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chap. .J3.V-4.2Ll3, 5 

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| UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



THE SPOKEN" WORD 



OR, THE 



ART OF EXTEMPORARY PREACHING, 
ITS UTILITY, ITS DANGER, AND ITS TRUE IDEA. 



WITH AN EASY AND PRACTICAL METHOD FOR ITS 
ATTAINMENT. 



BY ^ 

REV, THOMAS J. POTTER, 

PROFESSOR OF SACRED ELOQUENCE IN THE MISSIONARY COLLEGE OF 
ALL-HALLOWS. 

AUTHOR OF "SACRED ELOQUENCE; OR, THE THEORY AND PRACTICE OF PREACHING 
"THE PASTOR AND HIS PEOPLE; OR, THE WORD OF GOD AND THE 
FLOCK OF CHRIST," ETC.. ETC 



it 





U* 1890 *"■*] 



" Vivus est enim sermo Dei, et efficax, et penetrabilior omni gladio ancipiti." 

DUBLIN : 

M'GLASHAN & GILL, UPPER SACKVILLE-ST. 
LONDON : 

SIMPKIN, MAKSHALL, & CO. : BUKNS, OATES, & CO. 
1872. 



_g\/4_Z 3-5" 



DUBLIN : 
grinffb fm $. gj. ©'Cool* « Son 
7,: GREAT BRUNSWICK-ST. 



THE RIGHT REVEREND GEORGE CONROY, D.D., 

BISHOP OF ARDAGH AND CLONMACNOISE : 
IN GRATEFUL APPRECIATION 

OF 

MORE KINDNESS THAN HE CAN EVER HOPE TO ACKNOWLEDGE 
IN WORDS, 

THIS WORK IS INSCRIBED, 

WITH EVERY SENTIMENT OF AFFECTIONATE VENERATION, 
RESPECT, AND ESTEEM, 

BY 

HIS LORDSHIP'S DEVOTED SERVANT IN CHRIST, 

THE AUTHOR. 

Junb 1st, 1872. 



BARTHOLOMiEUS CANONICUS WOODLOCK, D.D., 

CENSOE. THEOLOG. DEP. 



*PAULUS CARDINALIS CULLEN, 

ARCHIEPISCOPUS DTJBLINIENSIS, ETC., ETC. 



lstJunii, 1872. 



PREFACE. 



A very few words will suffice for all that I wish 
to say by way of preface to the little work which 
is here offered, with much respect and deference, 
to the notice of my brethren in the ministry of 
the Word. 

In my treatise on " Sacred Eloquence ; or, the 
Theory and Practice of Preaching," I marked out, 
and endeavoured to render as practically easy as 
possible, that more laborious method, of writing 
their sermons and committing the same to me- 
mory, which most young clergymen are obliged, 
at least for some time after their entrance into 
the ministry, to follow. 

But, as there are very few missionary priests 
who have either the time or the inclination to 
undertake the immense labour which such a sys- 



Vlll PREFACE. 

tern of preparation involves — 'even if we suppose 
this style of preaching to be the most perfect, or 
the most useful, in itself — I conceived that I 
might be performing a work not altogether un- 
acceptable to them, if I ventured to present to 
the consideration of my brethren those remarks 
on the Nature and True Idea, the Dangers, the 
Advantages, and the most practical Method of 
Extemporary Preaching, which it has been my 
duty to prepare for the instruction of the young 
ecclesiastics whom it is my privilege to train in 
this interesting and important branch of their 
education. 

It is for my readers to decide what amount of 
success has attended my labours. For myself 
I can only say, that, discarding, in view of 
the object which was before me, all attempts 
at eloquence of style, or of laboured composition, 
I have striven to the best of my ability to record, 
in the most simple and intelligible manner, what- 
ever information I have been able to gather, and 
whatever experience it has been my good fortune 



PEEFACE. ix 

to acquire, during many years of study and con- 
stant teaching. 

I will add, that, if my work shall prove of any 
service, no matter how poor or slight that service 
may be, to my brethren and my pupils, I shall be 
more than amply repaid for whatever labour and 
anxiety its compilation may have cost me. 

The principal difficulty with which I had to 
contend in the composition of this treatise was 
one to which, perhaps, I may be allowed to refer. 

Up to a certain point, the preparation for a 
written and an extemporary sermon does not sub- 
stantially differ. In my work on " Sacred Elo- 
quence," I entered at considerable length into all 
those matters which are included in the Prepara- 
tion, Eemote or Proximate, the Actual Composi- 
tion, and the Delivery from Memory, of a written 
sermon. In the present volume I have been 
obliged to touch upon some, at least, of the sub- 
jects which I had already treated ; and the diffi- 
culty in my way was, how to do this without 
returning over the same ground. I trust my 



1 



X PREFACE. 

readers will find that, whilst I have not hesitated, 
when it was necessary, to refer to principles which 
I had already established and laid down, I have 
not substantially repeated anything which I had 
previously written. 

It only remains for me, I think, to render my 
acknowledgments where they are justly and prin- 
cipally due. 

I have derived much useful assistance from a 
treatise, "-On the Art of Extempore Speaking : 
Hints for the Pulpit, the Senate, and the Bar," 
by the late Abbe Bautain, Vicar-general of Paris 
— a work which, although perhaps it is too tho- 
roughly French, both in conception and execution, 
to become veif popular amongst those who culti- 
vate a more simple style of speaking, nevertheless 
contains many practical hints and much useful in- 
formation. I am also under many obligations to 
the " Cours d'Eloquence Sacree," of the Abbe 
Mullois, to the " Precis de Ehetorique Sacree," of 
the Canon Yon Hemel, to the Eev. E. P. Hood, to 
an anonymous writer in the pages of the Dublin 



PREFACE. X 

Eeview, and to several other distinguished authors 
whose names are mentioned in the work itself. 
Lastly, though not least highly appreciated and 
esteemed, my grateful acknowledgments are due 
to the great Oratorian, Dr. Newman, for the 
generous readiness with which on this, as on 
all former occasions, he has placed his learned 
and valuable writings at my disposal. 

T. J. P. 



CONTENTS. 



Page. 

CHAPTER I. 

Extemporary Preaching— What it is not— Its true idea, . 1 
CHAPTER II. 

Extemporary Preaching is not the expedient of the slothful 
man to save himself trouble — Whether Extemporary or 
Written Discourses are the more useful and effective — 
Certain qualifications which are indispensable to success 
in the Extemporary Preacher, . . . .11 



CHAPTER III. 

Selection of the subject — Its great importance and its influence 
upon the success of the sermon — Ordinary and extraordi- 
nary efforts — Converting Sermons — The common Sunday 
Discourse or Homily, . . . . .27 



CHAPTER IV. 

The Conception of the Subject— Every good Discourse will be 
the development of one great Leading Idea — The people 
only remember one thing at a time— The unity of thought 
and conception which is necessary to the speaker at all 
times and on all occasions is doubly so to the Extemporary 
Preacher, since he is doubly exposed to the danger of 
wandering from his sub ect, . . . .41 



xiv 



CONTENTS. 



Page. 

CHAPTER V. 

In order to conceive our subject we must first meditate it 
deeply and thoroughly — Want of thought a great defi- 
ciency of modern sermons — The Modern Orator must be 
a man of keen intelligence, and possess the habit of close 
and earnest thought, . . . . -47 

CHAPTER VI. 

Two principal methods of meditating a subject, the Direct and 
the Indirect — Few men are competent to employ the 
Direct — Nature of the Indirect Method — We must know 
where to look for matter and how to read— How a man 
may make the thoughts of another his own, and the only 
way in which it is lawful to do so, ... 55 

CHAPTER VII. 

The Arrangement of the Matter of our discourse — Absolute 
necessity of such order and arrangement — Its true idea — 
Opinions of St. Francis Borgia, St. Charles Borromeo, St. 
Francis de Sales, St. Vincent de Paul, etc., on this sub- 
ject, , . . . . , ? . 65 

CHAPTER VIII. 

The two great methods of presenting a subject, by "plan," or 
by "view" — Obvious danger of the "formal plan ' — 
Method of proceeding by "view" — Lacordaire — This 
method is not suited to men of ordinary talents— Superior 
advantages of the "plan," . . , .74 

CHAPTER IX. 

Plan of a discourse— General object of the plan and its relation 
to the discourse— What the educated laity say of the elo- 
quence of the pulpit, ..... 86 



CONTENTS. 



XV 



Page. 

CHAPTER X. 

The plan of a discourse the fruit of deep thought and of much 
reflection— Essential properties of a good plan — Its influ- 
ence on success, . . . . .94 



CHAPTER XL 

Proximate preparation of the sermon — The preacher at work — 
How to parcel out the week in the most useful and practi- 
cal manner — Plan of a sermon, . . . .109 



CHAPTER XII. 

The preacher in the pulpit — Realization of his plan— How to 
introduce his subject — The practice of employing a writ- 
ten exordium and other choice morsels of eloquence in an 
extemporary discourse, ..... 127 

CHAPTER XIII. 

How to seize the subject — Difficulty of laying down general 
rules — The advantages of a clear division in enabling a 
preacher to seize his subject — The qualities of a good divi- 
sion deduced from a consideration of the office and dignity 
of the preacher, . . . . . .144 

CHAPTER XIV. 

How to seize the audience — The power of seizing our audience 
is absolutely necessary to perfect success — In what this 
power consists — The Christian orator must know how to 
teach and to move, how to appeal to the intellect and the 
heart — Instruction and argumentation, their force, nature, 
and essential qualities, . . . . .169 



CHAPTER XV. 
How to present the subject in a popular shape — Amplifica- 



xvi 



CONTENTS. 



Page. 

tion, real and false — Nature of true amplification— The 
essential part it plays in the success of the sacred orator, 192 

CHAPTER XVI. 

Wo^d-painting — Its force, its employment, and its proper place 
in popular preaching — How it may be abused — Father 
Paul Segneri — Eowland Hill — Dr. Newman, etc., . 210 

CHAPTER XVII. 

How to conclude — The danger of unduly prolonging the dis- 
course — Various methods of concluding — The crisis of the 
sermon, how it is to be managed, and the immense im- 
portance of employing it properly — Recapitulation, its 
nature and objects — The appeal to the passions, and how 
it is to be conducted— Examples : Massillon, St. Liguori, 
Segneri, Manning, Newman, .... 236 

CHAPTER XVIII. 

Style of the Pulpit — Style of the pulpit is essentially popular — 
Characteristics of a popular style, in the true acceptation 
of the term, ...... 265 



" THE SPOKEN WOED," 

OR, 



CHAPTER I. 

EXTEMPORARY PREACHING — WHAT IT IS NOT — ITS TRUE 
IDEA. 

LTHOUGH it is certainly rather a dangerous 
experiment for a young priest fresh from col- 
lege to make, it is equally certain that, sooner or 
later, a large number, perhaps the majority, of cler- 
gymen adopt what is loosely styled the practice of ex- 
temporary preaching. There are very few men who 
have the courage to undergo, week by week, the im- 
mense labour which is involved in writing out a set 
sermon, and in committing the same to memory word 
for word. Even before their departure from college, 
most men probably had begun to find how wearisome 
and tedious such a process becomes ; and, although the 

2 

if 




9 



EXTEMPORARY PEEACHING. 



vigilance of his professor, and his own intimate convic- 
tion of the great utility and importance of such a sys- 
tem of training, might render the young ecclesiastic 
exact and careful in writing his sermons, and in com- 
mitting at least some of them to memory, during the 
years of his college course, it is scarcely to he expected 
that he will persevere very long in such a mode of pre- 
paration after he has once been fairly launched into 
the multitudinous and distracting duties of the mis- 
sionary life. Let his courage be ever so great ; let his 
industry be surpassed only by his zeal ; moreover, let 
him be nervous even to the last degree, and afraid of 
attempting to utter a single sentence which he has 
not previously written and committed to memory ; he 
will, nevertheless, in many instances, perhaps as a rule, 
find it quite impossible to write his sermons, and com- 
mit them to memory word for word — even if we sup- 
pose such a style of preaching to be the best in itself, 
or the one to be most strenuously recommended to 
the attention of the missionary priest. 

As we have said, a young preacher who starts by 
throwing away his pen, ceasing to call upon his me- 
mory, and assuming all the arts, all the expedients, 
and, shall we add, all the importance, of the full-blown 
orator, makes a very dangerous experiment. And, the 
misfortune is, that the men who thus commence, who 



ITS NATUKE AND TRUE IDEA. 



3 



thus rush with reckless steps into that sacred ground 
where angels might well fear to tread, are, as a general 
rule, precisely the very men whose course of training, 
or whose natural qualifications, render them most tho- 
roughly unfitted for such an undertaking. The man 
who has never been trained ; who scarcely knows the 
difference between the argumentative and the persua- 
sive parts of a discourse ; whose natural defects of 
manner and of speech have received neither attention 
nor correction ; is just the man to laugh at the diffi- 
dence and nervousness of another who is twice as well 
educated and twice as highly trained as himself. The 
latter is thoroughly impressed with the delicate nature 
of the task before him ; he knows well how difficult it 
is to arrange one's matter nicely ; to adapt it skilfully 
and judiciously to the capabilities and the special 
needs of our special audience ; to deliver it earnestly 
and warmly, without repulsive coldness or ridiculous 
exaggeration. He knows how slight a distraction is 
sufficient to throw a man off the track, and to over- 
whelm, even the best meant efforts, with inextricable 
confusion. He has seen so many men " break down," 
more or less completely ; and he has, in all probability, 
listened to such an amount of hostile criticism on 
preaching and preachers ; that he never enters the 
pulpit but with fear and trembling, never descends 



4 



EXTEMPORARY PREACHING. 



from it but with an intense feeling of relief and thank- 
fulness, increased, of course, a thousandfold, if he have 
come off tolerably well. But the man who is self-con- 
fident simply because he is unconscious of his own 
defects, labours under no such painful misgivings. 
He cannot understand how some persons find it so 
difficult to preach. " He has no difficulty in the matter. 
It is so easy to talk ; and, then, anything will do for 
the people. He must be an ignoramus indeed who 
cannot fill up the time, who cannot talk for fifteen or 
twenty minutes." And thus salving his conscience, he 
undertakes, without hesitation or misgiving, the dis- 
charge of one of the most sublime, as it is one of the 
most important, duties which could be intrusted to 
mortal man. Of the manner in which he discharges 
that duty it is scarcely necessary to speak. Of this, 
however, you may be pretty certain, that if he cannot 
quite close his eyes to the fact that great numbers of 
his flock make a practice of avoiding any service at 
which it may be known that he is to preach, while 
those who are present either fall asleep, or amuse 
themselves by acting the critic on what he says and 
his manner of saying it, he will be the last person to 
see this, or to realize the unpleasantness, not to use a 
stronger word, of his position. 

But, whether it be from want of time to devote to 



ITS NATURE AND TRUE IDEA. 



5 



the composition of written discourses, or from natural 
disinclination to undertake the labour which such a 
process necessarily demands, it is quite certain that 
most missionary priests will, at some portion of their 
career, become what is called extemporary preachers. 
And, when we remark that by extemporary preaching 
most men simply understand preaching without prepa- 
ration, is it necessary to add that, not unfrequently, 
the result is one at which, though mortals may only 
smile, the angels may well be supposed to weep 

Now, as the greatest inconveniences and the most 
mischievous mistakes arise, in many cases, from a mis- 
conception of first principles and of primary ideas ; and 
as, in this essay, we propose not only to explain, as far 
as we may be able, the true nature of extemporary 
preaching, but strongly to recommend the same; we 
are especially anxious to commence by showing what 
it is not, or, rather, by dissipating some of the false and 
mistaken ideas which have gone abroad on this subject. 

If you were to ask twenty men what they under- 
stand by extemporary preaching, there can, we ima- 
gine, be little doubt but that a majority of them would 
answer, " Preaching without preparation," and that 
they would mean what they said. They might differ 
slightly as to the measure of their unpreparedness. 
One would tell you that he finds it sufficient to walk 



6 



EXTEMPORARY PREACHING. 



about the sacristy for a few moments, thinking over the 
subject of his discourse, before he ascends the pulpit. 
Another would add that, for his part, he is always 
anxious to read something bearing on his subject; but 
it is really so difficult to meet with any author who 
puts sermon matter briefly and clearly, that he has 
almost been compelled to give it up, and trust to the 
spur of the moment. Another may even go so far as 
to say that, sometimes, he actually makes notes of his 
discourse on the backs of his old letters, or on any 
other stray pieces of paper which may come to hand — 
probably adding, however, that he finds these notes of 
very little service, if not even positively embarrassing. 
But, whilst differing as to minor details of no practi- 
cal importance, they will all agree in admitting the 
great general principle, viz., that an extemporary ser- 
mon, as distinguished from a discourse carefully written 
and committed to memory, is a sermon preached with- 
out any previous preparation, that is, without any pre- 
paration worthy of the name, either as regards collec- 
tion of matter, arrangement of details, or form of 
words. 

It is plain, however, that this cannot be the true 
idea of an extemporary discourse. An extemporary 
speaker is one, no doubt, who speaks, at least in a cer- 
tain sense, on the spur of the moment. That is to say, 



ITS NATURE AND TRUE IDEA. 



7 



lie speaks without any previous and formal arrange- 
ment of his words and phrases. Nay, in some cases, 
although it can hardly be so with a preacher of the 
Gospel, he may even speak without any previous selec- 
tion of his subject, or any deliberate arrangement of 
his ideas on the matter of his discourse. In this latter 
supposition a man will be an extemporary speaker in 
the popular acceptation of the term ; and it is quite 
possible that, in some rare cases, a man may be so 
highly gifted by nature, or so favoured by a fortunate 
combination of circumstances, as to command success. 
But we venture to think that these cases will, in truth, 
be very rare, just as the success, which he may secure, 
will be obtained in spite of all recognised rules and 
principles of oratory, rather than as the result of their 
observance. 

For, to go back to first principles, is it not evident 
that in order to speak — in order to have any right or 
title to attempt to speak — a man must have something 
to say ? Is it not plain that his whole claim to present 
himself to his fellow-men, to obtrude himself upon 
their notice, to trespass upon their patience, and to 
appropriate to himself a portion of their precious time, 
rests upon this primary assumption ? Is it not equally 
plain that this something must be already existing in 
his mind as well as in his feelings ; or, in other words, 



8 



EXTEMPORARY PREACHING. 



that it must be prompted, as well by the intellect 
which seeks to enlighten and instruct, as by the sym- 
pathies which throb for the welfare of his fellows ? 
Must it not be something sufficiently personal to his 
audience to attract their attention, and sufficiently im- 
portant to command their respect and esteem ? And, 
as we only deliver ourselves captive to those who seek 
to establish their claim to our attention and interest, 
just in proportion as they succeed in persuading us of 
their sincerity, their earnestness, and the pains which 
they have taken to put the matter in question before 
us plainly, clearly, and with the utmost possible per- 
spicuity, must he not have laboured to arrange his 
matter, the something to be said, with all possible sim- 
plicity and method ? The man who, in all ordinary 
circumstances, presumes to address an important assem- 
blage of his fellow men under any other conditions 
than these, is simply an impostor and a charlatan. 

Now, if these be the very primary conditions of all 
public speaking, and, a fortiori, of pulpit oratory, does 
it not follow that "extemporary preaching" and "preach- 
ing without preparation" are two very different matters? 

Preaching without preparation is preaching in viola- 
tion of all recognised laws and regulations, and certainly 
is not worthy of him who, in the discharge of this all- 
important duty, is acting simply as the legate of God,. 



ITS NATURE AND TRUE IDEA. 



9 



who speaks through his lips, and deigns to employ him 
as the instrument of winning souls to duty and to 
truth. Pro Christo legatione fungimur tanquam Deo 
exhortante per nos* 

But the extemporary preacher, in the true sense of 
the word, is a very different person from this. Sup- 
posing him to speak with all due legitimate authority, 
positis ponendis, he is a man who has something to 
say ; something interesting as well as important ; some- 
thing, in a word, which is worth saying. Not only 
does he assure himself that what he has to say is worth 
the saying, but he studies with equal care how he may 
say it in the best possible manner ; i.e., with the great- 
est order, simplicity, and feeling; or, in other words, 
with the most complete success. 

Now, all this supposes a very considerable degree of 
intellectual activity and of mental labour, and is alto- 
gether a very different thing from preaching without 
preparation. For although it is true that those whose 
attainments or experience exempt them from the labour 
and obligation of committing their thoughts to paper, 
preach without any previous arrangement of words and 
phrases, it is equally true that here the measure of 
their unpreparedness has its limit, and that this is pre- 



* 2 Cor. v. 20. 



10 



EXTEMPORARY PREACHING. 



cisely the degree in which they may be said to preach 
without preparation. 

The art, therefore, of extemporary preaching has 
reference merely to the form of words which the 
speaker will employ. If it can be said to have any 
reference to the matter of his discourse, this is only 
true to the extent that the preacher will not commit 
that matter to paper, but will content himself with 
such a purely mental preparation as is comprised in 
a careful and conscientious study of his subject, and a 
no less careful and conscientious arrangement of his 
matter by means of the plan of his discourse. 

To sum up : Extemporisation, then, regards only the 
words and not the matter of a discourse ; and an ex- 
temporary preacher is one who, having previously and 
carefully studied and arranged the substance of his ser- 
mon, trusts to the inspiration of the moment to supply 
him with the spoken words in which to give expression 
to those ideas which are the fruit of much earnest 
study and of much patient and thoughtful labour. 




CHAPTER II. 

EXTEMPORARY PREACHING IS NOT THE EXPEDIENT OF 
THE SLOTHFUL MAN TO SAVE HIMSELF TROUBLE — 
WHETHER EXTEMPORARY OR WRITTEN DISCOURSES 
ARE THE MORE USEFUL AND EFFECTIVE — CERTAIN 
QUALIFICATIONS WHICH ARE INDISPENSABLE TO SUC- 
CESS IN THE EXTEMPORARY PREACHER. 

N the last chapter we strove to give a simple 
but accurate idea of what is meant by an ex- 
temporary sermon in the true meaning of the word. 
This idea is identical with that of Fenelon, who speaks 
of an extemporary preacher as, "a man who is well 
instructed, and who has a great facility of expressing 
himself; a man who has meditated deeply, in all their 
bearings, the principles of the subject which he is to 
treat ; who has conceived that subject in his intellect 
and arranged his arguments in the clearest manner; 
who has prepared a certain number of striking figures 
and of touching sentiments which may render it sensi- 




12 



EXTEMPORARY PREACHING. 



ble and bring it home to his hearers ; who knows per- 
fectly all that he ought to say, and the precise place in 
which to say it, so that nothing remains at the moment 
of delivery, bat to find words in which to express him- 
self." 

Now, if this be the true idea of extemporary preach- 
ing, it is pretty evident that it cannot be taken up as 
the expedient of a slothful man whose great object is 
to save himself labour ; and this will become still plainer 
as we proceed to consider the various stages which 
are involved in the preparation of an extemporary ser- 
mon. Meanwhile, it may not be useless to devote a 
few moments to another question which is quite cer- 
tain to be put, viz., whether the delivery of extempo- 
rary discourses, or of such as have been previously 
written and committed more or less entirely to memory, 
is to be preferred ; or, which of the two kinds of preach- 
ing is likely to be the more useful and effective ? 

If we were to rely on the authority of antiquity, or 
if our verdict were to depend upon the votes of the ma- 
jority, it is, we imagine, quite certain that this verdict 
would be in favour of extempore delivery. But, is it 
not equally certain that so large and general a question 
does not admit of a general answer ; but, that it must 
be considered in connection with numberless circum- 
stances of time, of place, of subject, and of person, all 



SOME ESSENTIAL CONDITIONS. 



13 



of which will have a very material influence upon the 
conclusion at which we must eventually arrive ? 

It is, then, quite impossible to lay down any general 
rule which shall bind all men alike, or which shall bind, 
with laws of unyielding inflexibility, even the same 
men in different and varying circumstances. You can- 
not say dogmatically that a man should always carefully 
commit to paper every word which he intends to utter, 
any more than you can lay down as a general principle 
that the only true orator is the man who speaks on the 
spur of the moment, and who gives expression, in strong 
unpremeditated language, to the sentiments which well 

up spontaneously from his inmost soul. Both assertions 
« 

are as true in certain contingencies as they are, if not 
false, at least impossible and useless, in other and differ- 
ent circumstances. 

If we were to commence by asserting that every 
clergyman should aim at becoming an extemporary 
preacher, we should, undoubtedly, lay down a proposi- 
tion to which all men might, in a general way, render 
a ready assent. But if we were to advance a step fur- 
ther, and to affirm that no other kind of preaching is 
worthy of the name, and that the practice of delivering 
from memory sermons which have been previously 
written, should be neither countenanced nor allowed, 
should we not say something which, to use the mildest 



14 



EXTEMPORARY PREACHING. 



form of expression, would be very foolish and imprac- 
ticable ? 

For, is it not palpably evident that there are at least 
a certain number of clergymen who, in the beginning 
of their career, are so timid, so nervous, and possessed 
of such little command of language, as to be unable to 
give utterance to ten consecutive sentences unless they 
have been previously carefully prepared ? To lay upon 
such men the alternative of preaching extempore or not 
at all, is practically the same thing as to tell them to 
give up the attempt. To force a man of this kind into 
the pulpit in such a contingency is to force him to make 
a fool of himself, and that under circumstances which, 
.whilst they necessarily cover the preacher himself with 
confusion, produce at the same time another result 
which is even more lamentable; viz., bring discredit 
upon the holy and sublime ministry of the word. Look 
at the victim in the pulpit — we have all seen the 
sight some time or other — and is it not one which is 
painful to the last degree ! He commences, perhaps 
indifferently well, but presently he begins to hesitate ; 
he grows very red in the face, or very pale, as the case 
may be ; then he stammers lamely on for another sen- 
tence or two, hesitates again, repeats what he has just 
said, and, finally, as likely as not, comes to a dead stop ! 
But even if he should not break down so thoroughly as 



SOME ESSENTIAL CONDITIONS. 



15 



this, he is so absorbed by his eager and painful hunt for 
the faltering and feeble words in which to express his still 
more feeble and faltering ideas, that his delivery and 
the whole tenor of his discourse becomes cold and un- 
interesting to the last degree. This terrible strain and 
preoccupation of mind extinguishes everything like 
fervour and unction, and, whilst it renders his action 
constrained and stiff and false, it deprives his voice of 
its natural inflections and force, so that the discourse 
which should have brought glory to God, benefit to his 
flock, and the consciousness of important duty credit- 
ably discharged to himself, results in as complete and 
miserable a failure as it is possible to conceive. To how 
many young men do not these remarks apply in all 
their fulness? Are there not even some men, honest, 
zealous, and truly devoted, who never, through the 
course of a long life, succeed in conquering that ner- 
vous timidity which is such a terrible foe to many of those 
whose duty obliges them to address large bodies of their 
fellow-men ? 

Again, how few men are there, at all events how few 
young men, who, in the commencement of their career, 
possess such a profound, and at the same time expedite 
and practical, knowledge of the mysteries of our holy 
Faith, together with such an ease and facility of speak- 
ing in public, as justifies them in commencing their 



16 EXTEMPORARY PREACHING. 

career as extemporary preachers ? Those who do thus 
commence, without possessing the qualifications at 
which we have just glanced, speak, as a rule, without 
exactness, precision, order, or plan. It is well when 
they are preserved from saying many things which are 
wild, vague, and less true ; some things, perhaps, which 
are actually false, and this, even in matters of doctrine 
and of practical morality. If they have any plan in their 
discourse, do they not frequently lose sight of it by 
tedious, vain, and j useless digressions ? Do they not 
weary their hearers by their foolish prolixity, and by 
their laboured efforts to find expression ? Possessing 
neither depth of learning, solidity of matter, nor grace 
of delivery, is not the very highest degree of excellence 
which such men ever attain that of becoming mere 
talkers, an accomplishment from which every sensible 
man will earnestly pray to be preserved ? And, would 
he not be guilty of a rash, not to say a guilty act, 
who should attempt to persuade men such as these, 
men destitute of many, if not of most, of the necessary 
qualifications for the task, to commence their career 
in the pulpit as extemporary preachers ? Would not 
this be the most effectual way of producing those 
unfortunate objects who have been, not unhappily, 
described as spin-texts rather than preachers ? And 
how well this style of preaching is hit off in the person 



SOME ESSENTIAL CONDITIONS. 



17 



of the hapless individual of whom such a capital story 
is told ! This good man, by dint of much assurance 
and not a little practice, had become what he himself 
considered an extemporary preacher, but what his 
hearers more truthfully designated as an inveterate 
talker. At all events, he had acquired the fatal gift of 
an unlimited power of " talk." Like many mere talkers, 
however, it seems that, no matter the subject on which 
he might commence, he always came back to the same 
point ; and in his case, this point was a dissertation on 
the duty of paying one's debts. His hearers having 
listened to this homily until they were sick to death 
of it, finally appealed to the preacher's ecclesiastical 
superior to give him some text from which he could not 
branch off into the old familiar topic. The rector 
accordingly selected the "Conversion of St. Paul" as 
the subject for next Sunday's discourse, and charged 
his subordinate to confine himself to it, thinking that 
it could not possibly be made to lead up to the curate's 
favourite grievance. But all in vain. The curate 
naturally enough commenced his discourse by enume- 
rating the principal marks or signs of a regenerate 
man, and, to the horror of the congregation, he imme- 
diately proceeded to prove that the foremost and most 
obvious of these consisted in the payment of outstand- 
ing accounts. So true it is that sameness is one of the 



18 



EXTEMPORARY PREACHING. 



greatest dangers, as it is one of the most common 
failings, of extemporary preachers. 

Then, again, in deciding whether extemporary or 
written sermons be the better, we must keep in view 
not only the person of the preacher, but the nature of 
his subject, the audience to whom it is to be addressed, 
and the place in which it is to be delivered. 

Whilst we might be justified in recommending a man 
who has to deliver a simple exhortation, in a small 
country church, before an unlettered and ordinary 
congregation, to preach extempore, should we be acting 
a prudent or even warrantable part, in giving the same 
advice to one whose duty it might be to deliver a formal 
discourse before the members of a university, or within 
the walls of a vast building? Undoubtedly not. In a 
small country church you need not raise your voice 
above the ordinary conversational pitch, whilst your 
discourse will probably be of the simplest character both 
as regards its subject and method of treatment; and 
in this case all the necessary conditions in favour of 
an extempore sermon are present. Your subject and 
your audience will equally admit and require the fami- 
liar and discursive style which suits most naturally the 
extempore discourse. But, let it be a man's duty to 
preach on some formal subject before a learned and 
critical, audience let us suppose the members of a 



SOME ESSENTIAL CONDITIONS. 



19 



university, where everything will depend on the argu- 
mentative nature of his style, the exactness and pre- 
cision of his language, and the unbroken regularity and 
completeness of the entire discourse : or, let us suppose 
him speaking in a large and spacious church, where, 
simply in order to be heard, he must articulate every 
syllable with the most rigid distinctness, and know 
precisely the very word which he is about to use, so 
as to give that swell to the sound of his sen- 
tences which, in such a position, is absolutely indis- 
pensable : and how few men are there who, in these 
circumstances, could acquit themselves either creditably 
or successfully by means of an extemporary discourse ? 

From all this, is it not plain that there are men to 
whom, on account of inexperience, imperfect and inex- 
pedite knowledge of doctrine, or the circumstances of 
time and place in which they may find themselves, 
not only you cannot recommend extemporary preach- 
ing as the better of the two, but to whom you can- 
not recommend it at all or in any sense ? Men in 
these circumstances must be content to follow the more 
laborious path which we have endeavoured to mark out, 
and render as practically easy as possible, in a treatise 
on "Sacred Eloquence" which may perhaps be known 
to some of our readers. 

On the other hand, supposing a man to possess the 



20 



EXTEMPORARY PREACHING. 



necessary qualifications,* there can be no question but 
that extemporary preaching has its own most signal 
and decided advantages over any other method, and 
that its cultivation is eminently worthy of every minis- 

* By necessary qualifications we understand that perfect 
self-possession, that accurate and expedite knowledge, and 
that readiness of speech which is the fruit of much practice 
in writing more than anything else, which fit a man to speak 
in public without the previous labour of having written his 
discourse and committed it to memory. As a particle of prac- 
tice is often more useful than a page of precept in such mat- 
ters as this, it may not be out of the way to refer to the train- 
ing through which I put the students of our college who are 
under my care in this branch of their education. It is briefly 
this : after having, during a space of two years, applied them- 
selves to the study of the principles of composition and 
elocution, and gone through a course of English literature, 
the whole accompanied by continual practice in writing, my 
pupils enter upon the study of " sacred eloquence," properly 
so called. This continues for three years. During the 
whole of this time, in addition to the formal lectures which 
he receives on the principles of sacred eloquence, each stu- 
dent is obliged to write, once in three weeks, a short sermon. 
The subject of this sermon is appointed by the professor, 
and it must be written carefully and in accordance with the 
rules of eloquence. A certain number of these sermons (as 
far as time permits) are read in public by their authors, and 
have to undergo the criticism of the professor. They are 
all, without exception, collected by him, to be examined at 



SOME ESSENTIAL CONDITIONS. 



21 



ter of the gospel, pre-eminently worthy of those hard- 
worked missionary priests who may be so truly said to 
bear the heat and burthen of the day — men who, econo- 
mise it as they may, will be able to find but little time 

his leisure, and are returned to his pupils with such remarks 
appended as he may think it useful or necessary to make. 
It will he seen at a glance that this supposes a very formid- 
able amount of writing on the part of my pupils. I do not, 
of course, expect that these sermons will be of much practical 
utility to the young missionary in his after career; although 
positive matter, carefully collected and arranged, can never be 
useless. Sermons written in college will, from the circum- 
stances of the case, nearly always want that element of 
practical application which can alone render a discourse 
living and efficacious. But what I do expect is, that this 
constant practice of writing will give them so great a faci- 
lity, not only in the use of language, but in the orderly ar- 
rangement of matter and ideas, that they will be able, very 
early in their missionary career, to take up the practice of 
extemporary preaching, and to discharge it in such a manner 
as will be satisfactory to their superiors, creditable to them- 
selves, useful to their people, and worthy, at least in some 
humble measure and degree, of the God whose ministers 
they are. And I may add that, as a general rule, I have 
every reason to be satisfied, not only with the diligent appli- 
cation of my pupils to this branch of their studies, but also 
with the measure of success which rewards their zealous 
efforts. — T. J. P. 



22 



EXTEMPORARY PREACHING. 



to devote to their preparation for the discharge of a 
duty which every true priest feels to be one of the most 
onerous and important of those which God has placed 
upon him. 

Without delaying to treat of the first and most ob- 
vious advantage of extemporary preaching, viz., eco- 
nomy of labour and of time, we have no hesitation in 
asserting that, positis ponendis, the extemporary 
sermon, in the true sense of the word, will be more suc- 
cessful than one which has been previously written out 
and committed to memory. Whilst it is true that 
some men, artists by nature, and perfected by long prac- 
tice, attain such an ease and naturalness of manner in 
delivering sermons of this kind, as almost to persuade 
you that they are speaking extempore, it is equally true 
that, as a general rule which suffers but rare exceptions, 
the delivery from memory of a written sermon is nearly 
always stiff and formal. A preacher who follows this 
method nearly always presents the appearance of a 
schoolboy repeating his task, and, in many instances, 
repeating it very indifferently. On the other hand, the 
extemporary sermon is delivered with an earnestness 
which proves that we speak the language of conviction, 
and with a warmth which goes at once straight to the 
hearts of our hearers. And, not only is such a sermon 
delivered with earnestness and warmth, but also with 



SOME ESSENTIAL CONDITIONS. 



23 



that easy and natural manner which, perhaps more 
than anything else, gains the confidence of our hearers, 
and, diverting their attention from the mere form of 
our matter, turns it full upon the substance of the dis- 
course, thus disposing them to profit to the utmost by 
our instruction. The preacher from memory lies under 
the necessity, and a very painful one it is, of keeping a 
constant and strained watch upon the mere words of his 
discourse, lest he forget them, and, with them, the whole 
thread of his argument. The extemporary preacher, 
released from this painful necessity, becomes at once 
more free and vigorous in his action, able at the same 
time to give the rein to his zeal and yet to keep it 
within due limits. The words of the preacher from 
memory, no matter how eloquent or beautiful they may 
be in themselves, are, in a great measure, dead words, 
since they are void of that life which is born of 
the ever varying circumstances of time, of place, and of 
person. The words of the extemporary preacher, spring- 
ing as they do immediately and on the spur of the 
moment from his heart, are full of life and pregnant 
with energy of the best and holiest kind ; and it is no 
wonder if such a man is able to impart a warmth, an 
earnestness, a reality, and a depth to his figures and 
sentiments which they could have acquired from no 
amount of mere technical study or closet preparation. 



24 



EXTEMPOEARY PREACHIXG. 



" Lastly, and this is undoubtedly the most formidable 
objection which can be advanced against the practice 
of preaching from memory, the man who simply recites 
verbatim a sermon which he has previously written, is 
such an utter slave to the words of his discourse as to 
be altogether unable to follow those inspirations which 
the Spirit of God may impart to him during the course 
of its delivery. No matter how much the circumstances 
in which he finds himself may differ from his expecta- 
tion ; no matter how ill-adapted to the capacity of 
his audience the sermon which he has composed may 
be ; he is tied down to the words which he has written, 
although he feels, and feels most intensely, as he delivers 
them, that they are utterly lost and thrown away. 
As St. Liguori says so well : " These kind of preachers 
carry their discourses in their memory, and whether 
they speak to the ignorant or the learned, they will not 
change a single word. They perceive that their audience 
do not comprehend them. No matter, they can give 
no new development, no further explanation. They 
can clear up no point or present it under different and 
more intelligible aspects. They must confine them- 
selves to repeating the lessons which they have learned." 
On the other hand, the extemporary preacher, and in 
this lies his real strength, is at full liberty to proportion 
his discourse to the effect which he w 7 ishes to produce. 



SOME ESSENTIAL CONDITION'S. 



25 



He sees that he has made an impression: he is at 
liberty to follow it up, and keep pace with it, by insist- 
ing upon and developing still more forcibly those points 
which he perceives to have hit the mark. Or, it may be, 
he sees that his remarks fall coldly, and without fruit, 
on his hearers : he is at liberty to present his arguments 
under other shapes, to illustrate them by more homely 
and striking figures, and to dress his ideas in words 
better suited to the capacity, the understanding, and 
the necessities of his audience. Passing quietly over 
those which have missed their aim, he can return again 
and again to those arguments which have struck home, 
and thus secure his end. As the author of " The Parish 
Priest " remarks, such a man can watch the effect of 
his words upon his audience, can constantly contract 
or expand his arguments, and vary his illustrations, 
according to the pulse of that audience and the effect 
which he sees to be produced. And it is precisely in 
this capacity of expansion and of repetition that the 
real force of extemporary preaching is to be found. 
A discourse may thus lose something in the way of 
compactness and strength, but what it thus loses will 
be more than compensated for by the actual gain in 
the way of practical and tangible results. Besides, as 
old Fuller so quaintly reminds us, the ordinary run of 
men are not able to take their intellectual food in too 



26 



EXTEMPORARY PREACHING. 



solid a form, but require to have it seasoned by matter 
of a lighter and more attractive kind. 

Finally, we cannot, perhaps, better conclude these 
remarks on the relative advantages and disadvantages 
of the two systems of preaching, than by reminding our 
readers of the well-known saying that " Writing makes 
an exact man, conversation a ready man, and reading 
a full man." 



CHAPTER III. 



SELECTION OF THE SUBJECT — ITS GEEAT IMPOETANCE 
AND ITS INFLUENCE UPON THE SUCCESS OF THE 
SEEMON — OEDINAEY AND EXTEAOEDINAEY EFFOETS 
— CONVEETING SEEMONS — THE COMMON SUNDAY 
DISCOUESE OE HOMILY. 

AYING considered some of the most striking 
advantages and disadvantages of the extem- 
porary sermon, and having glanced at the leading 
qualifications which are indispensable to him who 
attempts it, it is now time to set the young preacher 
practically to work at the preparation of a discourse of 
this nature ; and the first step in such preparation is 
obviously the selection of a subject. 

The selection of a subject on which to speak, simple 
and matter of fact as it seems, is a much more impor- 
tant step than may at first sight appear. It is one 
which, probably, is taken more as a matter of course 
than any other. As an ordinary rule, admitting, per- 



28 



EXTEMPORARY PREACHING. 



haps, but few exceptions, a clergyman glances at the 
gospel of the following Sunday, and the work is done — 
he has selected the subject of his discourse. At the 
same time, we do not mean to say that in reality the 
ordinary Sunday's discourse will not, and should not, be 
built upon the Gospel of the day. But what we ven- 
ture to say is, that this rule may be taken too gene- 
rally, just as it may be applied too loosely and with- 
out sufficient regard to the exigencies of sacred elo- 
quence. 

There can, of course, be no doubt that, as it will pro- 
bably be the duty of the missionary priest to instruct 
his people at least every Sunday, so he will found his 
instruction, for the most part, upon the lessons to be 
derived from either the gospel or epistle of the day. 
But it is equally true that there are many occasions on 
which he must be prepared to leave this beaten track, 
to aim at more striking results, at greater efforts for 
God and the good of souls, than are ordinarily at- 
tained by a simple instruction, just as it is also true 
that he can never afford, even in his most familiar in- 
structions, altogether to lose sight of those striking 
results. 

Since, then, the subject is the foundation, not only of 
the discourse itself, but also of all our efforts, and of all 
those strokes of oratory by which we aspire to do a 



SELECTION OF A SUBJECT. 



29 



least something for God and the souls of men, it neces- 
sarily follows that not merely the selection of the sub- 
ject, but also of the line of treatment which we propose 
to follow in its development, is a matter of great im- 
portance and one which cannot be determined at ran- 
dom. This is evident from the very nature of elo- 
quence, from the very fundamental idea of the office 
of a preacher ; since sacred eloquence is nothing more 
than the power of so influencing and acting upon our 
fellow-men as to persuade them to become better Chris- 
tians and more faithful servants of God. And it is 
plain that such an end as this cannot be attained unless 
by the concurrence of several very important and clearly 
defined elements of success. 

We shall not act upon our fellow-men unless we 
know them well ; and, in reality, how little in most 
cases do we know about them ? The Abbe Mullois 
has said, the people are not known even by the 
most keen-sighted statesmen. We study them super- 
ficially, in books, in romances, in newspapers, or, as 
likely as not, we form some ludicrous and distorted idea 
which is as far as possible from the truth. Perhaps 
we scarcely mix with them at all, and are as ignorant of 
their virtues as we are of their vices. We know nothing 
of their peculiar circumstances, of their wants, their 
dispositions, their capacity, their prejudices ; and yet a 



so 



EXTEMPORARY PREACHING. 



knowledge of all these things is absolutely necessary in 
order to be able to speak with effect. 

We read that the first public sermon delivered in 
Paris by Lacordaire was a complete failure. As they 
went out of the church the audience passed judgment 
upon him in no hesitating or equivocal terms. Lacor- 
daire himself was perfectly conscious of his failure, but, 
like a man of genius, he was able to penetrate its 
causes, and, thoroughly as he seemed, whilst labouring 
under the smart of this first disappointment, to despair 
of any future success, he was, fortunately for posterity, 
equally able to apply the necessary remedies. He had 
written his sermon carefully and elaborately in his 
study, but without any practical or present thought of 
his audience. As a natural consequence, it fell flatly 
upon his hearers ; it did not deeply interest them, be- 
cause it really had no practical relation to them ; what 
the preacher said was no doubt very well said, but it 
would have suited some other audience equally well. 
Probably it would not really have suited any audience, 
and for the plain simple reason that it had been com- 
posed without practical reference to one audience more 
than another. Lacordaire was quick to perceive this. 
" I have not sufficient flexibility of mind," he said ; 
" I do not understand the world. I have lived too 
solitary a life. It is not the first time I have discovered 



SELECTION OF A SUBJECT. 



31 



how little my mind sympathizes with an ordinary con- 
gregation." Thus probing his own weakness and the 
defects inhis oratorical armour,he set himself assiduously 
to work to apply the remedies. It is not necessary to 
add that thorough and brilliant success rewarded his 
efforts. 

If we do not know the people we cannot love them, 
and yet, unless we love them, we shall never speak to 
them in such a manner as to produce any lasting im- 
pression upon them. Neither shall we speak to them 
in the language of the soul, in language which will 
move their hearts, if we speak on subjects which are 
above their comprehension, or which are unsuited to 
them in their peculiar circumstances. What result can 
a clergyman expect who preaches to a simple country 
congregation in the style, perhaps in the very words, of 
a Massillon denouncing the corruptions of a profligate 
French court ? Equally barren of result will be our 
efforts if we select a subject which is unfitted to 
our own proper style, or if we treat that subject in a 
forced and unnatural manner. We may safely take it 
for granted that every man has a style of his own, one 
which, in some sense, is peculiar to himself. Many men 
have a peculiar power of moving souls through the con- 
sideration of the mercy and goodness of God. Others, 
though perhaps their number will be small, produce great 



32 



EXTEMPORARY PREACHING. 



effect by the terrible pictures which they are able to 
draw of the punishments of hell, etc., etc. But this may 
be laid down as a general and most certain law, that 
the effect produced, no matter what the subject or the 
peculiar talent of the preacher may be, will be just in 
proportion to the correctness and skill with which each 
man apprehends his own proper gift, and the exactness 
and industry with which he develops his own proper 
talent. 

Whether, therefore, he is to deliver an ordinary sim- 
ple instruction founded upon the Gospel of the day, or, 
whether he aims at one of those exceptional efforts 
which are not merely useful bat often absolutely 
necessary for the welfare of his flock, the preacher will, 
in selecting his subject and his method of treating it, 
be equally careful to keep a few broad general principles 
plainly and clearly before his mind. 

And, in the first place, as regards those extraordinary 
efforts which must necessarily be made, at least from 
time to time, as during the seasons of Advent, Lent, or 
on the occasion of parochial retreats, etc., etc. ; the 
preacher must carefully remember that the object of all 
such discourses as these is to convert Let him per- 
suade himself that it is not a matter of choice, but 
simply a matter of duty, to seize these occasions and 
turn them to proper account. No matter how well 



SELECTION OF A SUBJECT. 



33 



may flow along, his people will, by little and little, be 
overcome by the universal tendency to decay and back- 
sliding which is, alas, the sad inheritance of fallen 
nature. Nor will the pastor sufficiently provide against 
this universal tendency to corruption by obtaining for 
his flock the extraordinary grace and help of a " mis- 
sion " once in every four or five years. No ! Great as 
may be the results of a successful mission, they will 
quickly fade away and be lost unless they be supple- 
mented and renewed from time to time, tempore oppor- 
tuno, by the zealous efforts of the pastor himself. 
Hence, the obligation, as opportunity offers, of forsaking 
the beaten track of the ordinary Sunday instruction, to 
preach converting sermons — sermons which will appeal 
vividly to the conscience, move the heart, and lead to 
practical and earnest reformation of manners, or, at 
least, to a renewal of first fervour. Is it not plain that, 
if we are to preach sermons of this kind, the selection 
of our subject will have much to do with our success '( 
If we are to preach converting sermons we must choose 
converting subjects, and more than that, such convert- 
ing subjects as we can handle most powerfully and 
efficaciously. It is needless to add that subjects for 
an extraordinary effort of this kind are to be sought 
for in "The Four Last Things," "The End of Man," 
" The Evil of Sin and its Eternal Punishments," "The 

4 



34 



EXTEMPORARY PREACHING. 



Attributes of God/' " The Redeemer, His office and His 
Attributes/' "The Sacrament of Penance, its nature, 
the qualities of contrition and of confession, and the 
preparation which it; demands," " The Holy Commu- 
nion," etc. These great subjects, or, at least, such of 
them as the Pastor may select, must be brought be- 
fore his people with all the warmth and earnestness 
which are inspired by conviction, by zeal, and by ten- 
der love for his flock. These subjects, which suit all 
people, which are never out of place, which never grow 
old or lose their tremendous importance, only require 
to be treated in a becoming manner to produce their 
effect. But, to produce their effect, they must be 
treated in this becoming manner, and this will not 
be the case if the preacher either mistake his sub- 
ject, or his own power of dealing with it. If, possess- 
ing none of the necessary qualifications for handling 
such a subject, he attempt to preach on the terrors of 
God's judgments, he may indeed rave at the top of his 
voice ; he may tear a passion into tatters ; but he will 
fail in his object ; he will not convert his people. This 
is, however, somewhat of an extreme case ; for, after all, 
a Christian priest, thoroughly in earnest and devoted to 
his calling, can scarcely treat such a subject without 
producing, if not all, at least much of the desired result. 
Bat we bring it forward as a proof of the great neces- 



SELECTION OF A SUBJECT. 



35 



sity of a thorough and precise apprehension of our own 
peculiar talent in order to insure perfect success ; since, 
it is only in such circumstances that we shall fully 
realise our aim. 

Then, again, how many men, earnest, zealous men, 
fail to produce the desired effect, because they propose 
the practice of virtue to their hearers in such a manner 
as to inspire them with disgust for it ! Such preachers 
dwell altogether on the rough hard side of virtue ; they 
dilate upon, perhaps exaggerate, its difficulties ; they 
smoothe away no obstacles ; they soften no hardships ; 
they say nothing of the beauty, the grandeur, and the 
infinite reasonableness of virtue in itself; nothing of 
the abundant helps of divine grace, or of the sweetness 
of the yoke of Christ ; and, hence, they fail in moving 
their hearers efficaciously to its practice simply because 
they do not propose it in a becoming manner. And, in 
all these circumstances, they fail, not through want of 
zeal, or good will, or sufficient knowledge, so much as 
from a lack of that keen intelligence, and of that tho- 
rough good common sense, which must ever have a 
leading share in forming an orator; since it is these 
qualities which must, above all others, teach a man 
what he is best fitted for, the peculiar turn of his own 
genius, the passions by which his own heart is most 
deeply moved, and, as a necessary consequence, the 



36 



EXTEMPORARY PREACHING. 



most powerful qualifications which he possesses by which 
to act upon, and to move, the minds and hearts of his 
fellow-men. 

For these, and other kindred reasons, we venture to 
think that the longer a man is employed in public 
speaking the more thoroughly will he appreciate the 
truth of these principles. As the Abbe Mullois so well 
remarks, " If a young priest has not thoroughly studied 
the difficulties of public speaking, he is apt to think 
that the art of preaching consists in composing a ser- 
mon, learning it by rote, and then delivering it without 
tripping. If he finds that he is considered to have 
acquitted himself tolerably well, he is thenceforward 
disposed to dogmatise remorselessly, and to tolerate no 
appeal from his irrevocable verdicts, with all the state- 
liness of a man who has the satisfaction of not knowing 
what he says. But," continues the Abbe, " when a man 
has studied and laboured, say, for fifteen years, he be- 
comes more indulgent and moderate, and begins to 
understand that there may be other ways of doing good 
besides his own. . . . We learn dogmatic theology 
designed to serve as the groundwork for solid lectures ; 
but if nobody comes to hear them, or if they send the 
audience to sleep ? Ethics also are learnt, and the 
solution of difficulties which occur at the confessional : 
but what if the people do not come to confession ? . . 



SELECTION OF A SUBJECT. 



37 



It should be ever borne in mind that the object and 
aim of our studies is 'propter nos homines, et propter 
nostram salutem! .... A priest should not be 
learned for himself only, but should be capable of com- 
municating what he knows to others, and of securing 
their attachment to it. Things are taken for granted 
which no longer exist. It is supposed that the churches 
are full, that tepid Christians attend the services, that 
the confessionals are frequented. These are gratuitous 
assumptions. Before such notions can be borne out by 
facts, our priests must be taught how to draw men to 
the church and to the confessional, and how to instruct 
them when they have brought them there." 

Passing now from the consideration of these extra- 
ordinary efforts, we come to the Homily, or ordinary 
Sunday discourse ; and although it is true that in dis- 
courses of this kind there may not be much room for 
freedom of action as regards the selection of subject, it 
is no less true that in our treatment of that subject we 
shall not be able by any means to overlook this point, 
as will abundantly appear from even a cursory glance 
at the nature and scope of the Sunday Instruction. 

The Homily or ordinary Sunday discourse is described 
by the Bishop of Orleans,* " as a short but interesting 

* "Entretiens sur la Predication Populaire." 



3S 



EXTEMP OR AR Y PREACHING. 



sermon, calculated from its nature to produce a lively 
impression upon souls." It may be founded on the 
Mystery of the day, or, as will more ordinarily be the 
case, on the Gospel which is read in the Mass. It may 
be treated either by way of paraphrase or comment on 
the entire Gospel ; or, what is more generally useful, 
the Gospel may be reduced to some one distinct propo- 
sition, which will be treated, positis ponendis, according 
to the ordinary rules of a discourse.* But as the pri- 
mary end of the Homily is to lead our hearers to a 
reformation of life and manners — in other words, to 
make them better men — it is in all cases most essential 
to see that it has a practical application to our special 
audience and their special wants. Whilst it affords 
ample scope for warm appeals to the heart ; whilst it 
ought ever tend to touch and to influence the sinner, 
to win him from vice and to excite him to the practice 
of virtue ; it has but little room for matters that are 
merely speculative, or for any empty display of style or 
laboured composition. In one word, it will be a plain 
simple discourse, instructive, full of earnest exhortation, 
and, above all things, eminently practical. To attain 
its end it must oblige our hearers to look into them- 
selves, and cause them to take efficacious resolutions to 



"Pastor and his People." Part ii. chap. ii. 



SELECTION OF A SUBJECT. 



33 



amend their lives. It cannot attain this end unless it 
have a special application to the audience before us, to 
their wants and their particular failings; and from this 
it follows that, although the subject of the Sunday dis- 
course may be practically marked out for us in the 
Gospel of the day, the application of that subject will 
still be left to our own discretion, whilst the whole 
effect of our sermon will depend upon the prudence 
and the tact with which we select such a treatment of 
the subject as will most clearly conduce to the end to 
be attained. 

Whether, therefore, there be question of an extra- 
ordinary effort, or of the simple ordinary Sunday ser- 
mon, the discreet pastor will be equally solicitous to 
study how he may present his subject to his audience 
in its most striking and practical aspect, how he may 
render it most pleasing to them, and thus most readily 
win their acceptance of his views. Above and before 
all things else, he will, from the first moment he has 
selected his subject, keep continually before his mind 
several practical questions, upon which his treatment of 
that subject will depend for much, if not for the whole, 
of its success. These questions are : What is it pre- 
cisely that I am about to propose to my hearers ? By 
what means, by what arguments, by what earnest 
appeals to them, do I expect to gain my end ? When 



40 



EXTEMPORARY PREACHING. 



once the answer to these questions stands out, perti- 
nently and clearly, before his mental vision, he has 
surmounted half the difficulties which beset his posi- 
tion. He will no longer run the risk of finding himself 
in the place of a certain unfortunate preacher who, 
when describing his performance in the pulpit, ex- 
pressed himself in the following terms : " I did not 
know," said he, " what I was going to say before I got 
into the pulpit ; I did not know what I was saying 
whilst I was there; and when I came down I did 
not know what I had been saying."* The individual 
in question did not complete the picture by attempting 
to describe the effect of his discourse upon his audience 
in this particular case ; but, as a general rule, we may 
safely venture to assert that when a man enters the 
pulpit without a definite notion of what he is going 
to say, his audience will depart in a state of mind, the 
correlative of this, without a definite notion of what 
he has said, Ex nihilo nihil fit He had nothing to 
say, and he said it. 

* Dublin Beview, vol. 36 — " Sermons and Preachers." 



CHAPTER IV. 



THE CONCEPTION OF THE SUBJECT — EVEEY GOOD DIS- 
COURSE WILL BE THE DEVELOPMENT OF ONE GREAT 
LEADING IDEA — THE PEOPLE ONLY REMEMBER ONE 
THING AT A TIME — THE UNITY OF THOUGHT AND 
CONCEPTION WHICH IS NECESSARY TO THE SPEAKER 
AT ALL TIMES AND ON ALL OCCASIONS IS DOUBLY 
SO TO THE EXTEMPORARY PREACHER, SINCE HE IS 
DOUBLY EXPOSED TO THE DANGER OF WANDERING 
FROM HIS SUBJECT. 

AVING carefully selected our subject, in ac- 
cordance with the general principles laid down 
in the preceding chapter, we shall, at the same time, 
have laid the foundation of what is perhaps the most 
important step of all in the preparation of an extem- 
porary sermon, viz., the obtaining of a clear conception 
of that subject and of the leading idea of our discourse. 

Every good and practical discourse will contain, and 
be summed up in, one, and only one, great leading idea. 
We have seen that an extemporary discourse supposes 




42 



EXTEMPORARY PREACHING. 



a careful preliminary operation of thought. This ope- 
ration of thought may, of course, extend itself in various 
ways ; it may embrace a number of arguments, of illus- 
trations, and of appeals, more or less forcible, to the 
passions ; but, if it have been well conceived, and vigor- 
ously worked out, it will be ultimately reduced to one 
great leading idea which will grasp the whole substance 
of the discourse. And this for the plain and simple rea- 
son, that a speaker is no more able to treat of a variety 
of subjects at one time, than an audience is able to 
master and retain a discourse which thus treats of 
everything in general and of nothing in particular. 

He, then, who wishes to speak in public, mast, as the 
Abbe Bautain remarks,* above all see clearly on what 
he has to speak, and he must obtain a right conception 
of the leading idea of his discourse. In other words, the 
two first stages of our preparation are reduced to the 
precise determination of the subject as already ex- 
plained, and to the conception of the idea of the dis- 
course. 

In every living thing we find a principle of vitality 
and life, a principle of individuality and unity which 

* " The Art of Extempore Speaking. By M. Bautain, 
Vicar-General, and Professor at the Sorbonne." An excel- 
lent translation of this useful work is published by Bosworth 
and Harrison, London. 



CONCEPTION OF THE SUBJECT. 



43 



at once vivifies the object in which it dwells, and dis- 
tinguishes it from any other. As in man the soul ; as 
in the physical world the germ of life ; so in the intel- 
lectual world, in the conceptions of the mind which are 
truly living and efficacious, there must be a principle 
of life, of individuality and unity. In a discourse this 
source of life, this principle of vitality and unity, with- 
out which the loftiest sentiments and the most polished 
sentences will be but as empty phrases falling idly on 
the air, is to be found in the leading or parent Idea ; 
that Idea which, ultimately embodied in the proposition 
of the discourse, will be the great point whence we 
shall start on our intellectual journey, to the establish- 
ment of which all our arguments, illustrations, and 
appeals will be directed, to which they will all be, more 
or less directly, referrible, and finally return. 

We shall consider this great principle of unity and 
life more closely in its own proper place, when treating 
of the plan of a discourse and its leading qualities. 
Let it suffice to remark here that this precise determi- 
nation of our subject, this energetic discipline of mind 
and thought by which a man forces himself to speak 
of one thing at a time, is necessary to the speaker at 
all times and on all occasions. It is doubly necessary 
to him who extemporises. 

The man who twites his discourse will not, in all proba- 



4-i EXTEMPORARY PREACHIXG. 

bility, unless he be altogether ignorant of the ordinary 
principles of composition, or destitute of the faculty of 
reasoning, wander away very widely from his subject. 
But, unless the road which he is to travel has been 
clearly defined, unless the point from which he starts, 
the destination whither he tends, and the precise route 
which, he is to take, all stand out clearly and unmistak- 
ably before bis mental vision, it will easily be otherwise 
with him who extemporises. Such a one is like a tra- 
veller who starts, indeed, upon his journey with the 
intention of reaching a certain goal, but without any 
clear or definite knowledge of the road by which he is 
to travel. It is all a matter of chance; one wrong 
turning may lead him in the very opposite direction 
to that in which he should advance; and, being a 
matter of chance, he is as likely as not to take the 
wrong turning. It is the same with the extemporary 
speaker who has not secured some great leading idea, so 
clearly and definitely marked out that he cannot mis- 
take it, and an idea to which everj^hing else in his dis- 
course will be subordinate. He is exposed to all the 
adverse influences which are seldom wanting on such 
an occasion. A sudden noise in the church, an unex- 
pected disturbance, an unforeseen distraction, is quite 
enough to confuse him ; and, hence, unsupported as he 
is by manuscript or copious notes, he will infallibly, 



CONCEPTION OF THE SUBJECT. 



45 



unless he can fall back strongly on a sharp, clear, pre- 
cisely defined leading idea, lose his way, and, after 
floundering more or less hopelessly, amongst the pitfalls 
which surround his path, be finally buried in an abyss 
of confusion and inextricable disorder. 

And, after all, what other result could be expected 
from the efforts of one who undertakes to speak with- 
out really knowing what he is about, or what he wishes 
to say; who, having no one object clearly before his 
mind, speaks, as a natural consequence, of all things 
except those perhaps which are best suited to the occa- 
sion. Ask the hearers of such a preacher what he said 
to them, and they can give you no account of it. Ask 
himself, an hour after his sermon, what he preached 
about, what precise virtue he inculcated, what practical 
method of practising it he laid down, or on the other 
hand, what particular vice he assailed, and what means 
of overcoming it he suggested — ask him what was the 
one great leading idea which, during the whole course 
of his sermon, he was labouring to drive home, the 
one great truth which he was striving to write on the 
hearts of his hearers, and he can give you no definite 
answer. You will see that, in a vague and disorderly 
way, he may have glanced at many things, but 
that he entered thoroughly into none of them. 
Either he did not understand, or he did not care to 



4G 



EXTEMPOEAEY PEEACHING. 



remember, that primary truth which no orator, least 
of all the sacred orator, can ever afford to forget ; viz., 
that ordinary people only remember one thing at a 
time. If you drive steadily, earnestly, and persever- 
ingly, at this one thing for half an hour, in all proba- 
bility you will make them remember it. You may, of 
course, vary your arguments, and diversify your illus- 
trations, as much and as widely as necessity may require 
and good sense suggest ; but let all come back to the 
one point, let all tend to the elucidation and confirma- 
tion of the one great idea, and you will write that 
idea, spite of themselves, upon the hearts of your 
hearers. Glance at many things, and they will remem- 
ber nothing. 

The first great step, then, in the preparation of an 
extemporary discourse is to obtain a clear, precise, and 
well-defined view of the leading idea which is to be the 
soul, the vivifying and unifying principle, of that dis- 
course. Let us now proceed to consider how we are 
to arrive at the conception of this idea, and how it is 
to be rendered fruitful and full of life. 



CHAPTER V. 



IN ORDER TO CONCEIVE OUR SUBJECT WE MUST FIRST 
MEDITATE IT DEEPLY AND THOROUGHLY — WANT OF 
THOUGHT A GREAT DEFICIENCY OF MODERN SERMONS 
— THE MODERN ORATOR MUST BE A MAN OF KEEN 
INTELLIGENCE, AND POSSESS THE HABIT OF CLOSE 
AND EARNEST THOUGHT. 

E have seen the great importance of obtaining a 
clear conception of the leading idea which is to 
pervade the whole discourse, which is to give that 
discourse its vitality and life, and make it fruitful to 
those who listen to us. Let us now consider how we 
may obtain possession of this idea. 

We obtain possession of this idea — or, in other words, 
we conceive it — by a practical and earnest meditation of 
our subject. And, by the meditation of our subject, we 
understand nothing else than the placing of ourselves 
face to face with it, in such a manner that we may study 
and sift it to the very bottom, that we may look at it in 




48 



EXTEMPORARY PREACHING. 



all its different aspects, until, so to speak, we become 
irradiated with it, until we see at a glance how we can 
make it conduce most powerfully and efficaciously to 
the end we have in view. 

For example : we know well that the ultimate object 
of all our preaching is to make our hearers better men, 
and that this end is to be gained by instructing our 
people solidly in the truths of their religion ; by im- 
parting that instruction in such a pleasing and attractive 
manner as to render it acceptable to them ; and, finally, 
by powerful appeals to the passions by which the will 
is swayed and ultimately led captive. Bocere : Placere : 
Movere. With these great principles clearly before us, 
we proceed, after having carefully selected the subject 
of our discourse, to study it with all attention, and with 
an anxious solicitude to discover how we may most 
practically make it conduce to this threefold end. In 
view of this object we consider the amount of absolute 
instruction which our hearers may require on the point 
in question, and how that instruction may be conveyed 
to them in the clearest and most precise terms ; the line 
of argument which is most likely to carry conviction to 
them, and thus make the most lasting impression upon 
them ; and, finally, how, after having instructed and 
convinced them of the truth of what we say, we may 
act most powerfully upon their wills, and what strokes 



MEDITATION OF THE SUBJECT. 



49 



of oratory, what figures of speech, what telling illus- 
trations from Holy Writ or elsewhere, we may em- 
ploy to move, to soften, and to gain them to our purpose. 
With such a conscientious meditation of our subject as 
this — a meditation which will be eminently practical, 
because we shall never lose sight of that special audience, 
with its special needs and necessities, to whom our dis- 
course is to be addressed — it is morally impossible that, 
sooner or later, directly or indirectly, we should not 
obtain a clear and vivid view of that one great leading 
Idea which is to pervade the whole discourse ; to the 
establishment of which everything else is necessarily to 
be subordinate ; that idea which is to be the source of 
life and light and strength ; that idea which we are 
truly said to conceive, since it is the offspring of our 
own intellectual operation, the fruit of our own earnest 
thought. 

As the Abbe' Bautain beautifully remarks,* in every 
living discourse there is a parent Idea, a fertile germ 
which animates the various parts of the discourse, just 
as the principal organs and members of a man's body are 
animated by his soul. And this is the Idea which is 
conceived by the mind through the earnest meditatioa 
of our subject 



* Chapter 9). 



5 



50 



EXTEMPOEARY PREACHING. 



All the great masters of the art of eloquence insist 
emphatically upon the urgency of this meditation of 
our subject, and of the train of thought which it neces- 
sarily supposes. We ought never lose sight of the 
great but homely truth that " what costs but little is 
worth precisely what it costs and if this be true, might 
we not fairly ask a good many extemporary preachers 
how much their sermons would be worth if they were 
to be weighed in these scales ? Perhaps one of the most 
striking deficiencies in the sermons of the day, and one 
which causes educated men to declaim most loudly 
against the vapidity of the pulpit, is their want of 
thought. And this remark applies scarcely less forcibly 
to some who write their sermons than to some who 
preach extempore. The man who writes commences 
his composition without having spent any time in serious 
thought upon it, just as the extemporary preacher enters 
the pulpit without any definite idea of what he is about 
to say. The result is that the one and the other speak 
at best but superficially ; too often, perhaps, they are as 
inexact in doctrine as they are inelegant in expression. 
The discourse is merely a heap of cold, pointless, vapid 
ideas ; a mass of texts without application, and of re- 
flections at once immature and fruitless. Having taken 
no pains to study his subject, possessing no clear or well 
defined ideas upon it, the preacher is, as a necessary 



MEDITATION OF THE SUBJECT. 



51 



consequence, obscure. He cannot but be cold and in- 
animate, since it is only in the furnace of deep, earnest 
meditation that the heart and the imagination are 
efficaciously inflamed — "In meditatione rnea exar- 
descit ignis!'* Like a traveller in a strange coun- 
try, he knows neither the direction whither he tends 
nor the nature of the road by which he proposes 
to journey. He is painfully diffuse, perpetually re- 
turning over the ground which he has already tra- 
versed, taking much time and many words to say that 
which might have been well and abundantly expressed 
in a few clear, neat, and well-chosen sentences. Let 
us convince ourselves that nothing helps so much, 
especially in these days, to bring the ministry of the 
word into contempt, as shallowness and want of thought. 
We are all the more forcibly bound to remember this 
from the very peculiarity of our position, a peculiarity 
which constitutes one of our greatest privileges, but one 
which there is a great temptation to abuse. When we 
enter the pulpit we are in absolute possession of the 
position ; there is no one to call us to account, to re- 
prove us for our errors, our coldness, it may be our 
inanity. If we were pleading at the bar we should 
be taken sharply to task at every turn, and, hence, 



* Ps. xxxviii. 4. 



52 



EXTEMPORARY PREACHING. 



although the matter in debate might be of little mo- 
ment, we should take good care to master it thoroughly, 
and this not only to gain our cause, but to provide 
against the attacks of those who were weighing our 
every word and argument in order to overthrow and 
defeat them if that were possible. In the pulpit we 
plead for God and the interests of immortal souls, but, 
safe from the attacks or reproaches of a watchful adver- 
sary, and rashly forgetful of the dreadful account we 
are to render of our sacred ministry, we do so with an 
amount of negligence, coldness, and thoughtless unpre- 
paredness, which would cover us with confusion were 
we to attempt to plead in such a manner before 
any human tribunal of justice. Let us be assured 
that we shall only master our subject by deep thought 
and earnest meditation on it. Unless we thus master 
and fully possess it, how can we announce and develop 
it with ease and facility ? In what other way is our 
intellect to gather its arguments, our imagination its 
rich and varied figures of speech, our heart its best and 
deepest emotions ? No ! let us convince ourselves once 
for all that if we are to take our proper place amongst 
the men of our age, if we are to be orators in any sense 
of the word, we must be men of keen intelligence, men 
to whom the habit of close and earnest thought is at 
once easy, pleasant, and familiar. Let us apply to our- 



MEDITATION OF THE SUBJECT. 



53 



selves the sound advice which the Abbe Mullois* gives 
to preachers. " Let us seize/' says he, " the superiority 
which is conferred by knowledge, and, by its means, we 
shall secure the attention of both great and small. The 
world is athirst for knowledge. Let us give it know- 
ledge ; but, to do this, we must, first of all, have filled 
ourselves with knowledge, else we shall be weaker, 
instead of stronger, than those whom we are to teach. 
If we are men of learning we shall be stronger than the 
world, and we shall be able to dominate it by a twofold 
power, the power of human and of Divine knowledge. 
The world possesses the earth, and the power of human 
speech, only. We shall possess all that the earth pos- 
sesses, but we shall possess something more, something 
to which it can make no claim, the power of God's 
word. Thus we shall rule the world." Let us ponder 
the words of another modern writer,+ who speaks no 
less plainly on this matter. " At all events," says he, 
" they oblige us to acknowledge that there may be some 
justice in the reiterated complaints we hear from the 
more highly cultivated portion of the laity of the dul- 
ness and unprofitableness of the generality of modem 

* " Cours d'Eloquence Sacre Populaire," etc. Par M. 
L'Abb6 Isidore Mullois. 

t " The Duty and the Discipline of Extemporary Preach" 
ing." By F. Barham Zincke. Eivingtons. 



54 



EXTEMPORAKT PREACHING. 



sermons. Their attainments in knowledge, and the 
thought they have bestowed on that knowledge, are in 
advance of the knowledge and thought which perhaps 
the majority of modern sermons exhibit. If this be so, 
and few, I believe, are disposed to dispute it, there can 
be but one way of meeting the complaint, and that is, 
by paying more attention to preaching; by which I 
mean that we must endeavour to attain to fuller and 
wider knowledge of the subjects upon which we have to 
speak, and to a more effective and better way of saying 
what we have to say." Finally, let us take to heart the 
wise precept of Besplas.* "If you desire to com- 
pose a telling discourse, read a little, think a good deal, 
feel intensely." " Lisez un peu, pensez davantage, sen- 
tez beaucoup." 

* " Essai sur FEloquence de la Chaired 5 



CHAPTER VI. 



TWO PEINCIPAL METHODS OF MEDITATING A SUBJECT, 
THE DIRECT AND THE INDIRECT — FEW MEN ARE 
COMPETENT TO EMPLOY THE DIRECT — NATURE OF 
THE INDIRECT METHOD — WE MUST KNOW WHERE TO 
LOOK FOR MATTER AND HOW TO READ — HOW A 
MAN MAY MAKE THE THOUGHTS OF ANOTHER HIS 
OWN, AND THE ONLY WAY IN WHICH IT IS LAWFUL 
TO DO SO. 




E have probably said enough to convince the 
young preacher that the success of his sermon 



will depend very much upon the manner in which he 
shall have meditated his subject, and grasped it in one 
great leading Idea. Let us now investigate somewhat 
more fully the various ways in which a man may medi- 
tate his subject. 

These methods are reduced to two — the direct and 
the indirect. 

There are, no doubt, in the world some men of great 
intellect; of deep and accurate information; with a 



56 



EXTEMPOEAEY PREACHING. 



grasp of mind which enables them to turn that infor- 
mation to ready and practical account ; and, above all, 
with souls simple, unsophisticated, keen for knowledge, 
and eager in their search after truth. When such men 
are called upon to address their fellows, it is easy 
enough for them to place themselves at once, directly 
and immediately, face to face with their subject. Re- 
quiring no collection of materials beyond what is sup- 
plied on the spur of the moment from the well -stored 
granary of their own minds, and beaten into shape and 
applied to the subject in question by the mere force of 
their own intellect, they are able at once to bring all 
the powers of their mind to bear upon it. They have 
scarcely begun to think of it before they are, so to 
speak, penetrated with it, and irradiated with the light 
which it diffuses. They see it in all its aspects. They 
pierce, with one strong, keen, eager glance, the precise 
manner in which it is to be brought to act upon those 
whom they are about to address. Thus meditating it, 
in itself, and in its manifold relations to their audience, 
they, sooner or later, conceive their subject in the spiri- 
tual and intellectual acceptation of the term, and, in 
this conception, obtain the leading idea of the discourse ; 
that idea, which (unless they prefer to take a view — 
and of this we shall have something to say presently) 
will be embodied in a plain, clear, tangible proposition, 



TWO WAYS OF MEDITATING A SUBJECT. 



57 



to the successful establishment and sustainment of 
which the remainder of the discourse will be 
directed. 

This is called the direct method of meditating our 
subject, and it is pretty plain, we imagine, that, although 
infinitely superior in itself to any other, it is one which 
is feasible only to the man of genius, of keen intellect, 
of deep and ready information. 

There are, however, comparatively few preachers 
sufficiently well versed in sacred science, or, at least, 
whose knowledge is sufficiently fresh and accurate, to 
enable, or, indeed, entitle them to endeavour to grasp 
their subject without some previous revision and read- 
ing-up of matter. Such men as these — and perhaps it 
is just as well that they will always constitute the great 
majority — must be content to follow a more laborious 
and circuitous route in the meditation of their subject. 
They must adopt what is called the indirect method, 
which is nothing else than such a course of careful and 
scientific reading, as will enable them to arrive at the 
same results as are achieved by the man of greater 
genius, and of more brilliant attainments, through the 
mere force of his own unaided powers. Let them, how- 
ever, console themselves with the reflection that this 
indirect method, although it may be somewhat more 
laborious, is vastly safer than the other, whilst a little 



58 



EXTEMPOEAEY PEEACHING. 



practice will render it not only easy, but as pleasant as 
it will certainly prove useful. 

The first step, then, in the indirect method, is a course 
of reading, more or less elaborate as occasion may re- 
quire, on the subject which we have selected for our 
discourse. A great part of the success of this course of 
reading will depend, we need hardly say, upon one or 
two very practical points. We must know where to go 
for matter, and we must know how to read. 

We must know where to go for matter ; since it is 
of the utmost importance to the hard-worked mission- 
ary priest, whose time for reading will probably be very 
limited, to be able to lay his hand at once upon the 
book which he requires. Amongst the many works 
suitable for such a purpose, it is not very easy to make 
a selection, as this is a subject on which men's minds 
differ so widely. It may, however, be said, in a general 
way, that the principal books which we need consult 
for this purpose will be the Holy Scriptures, a sound 
theological treatise, or a good ascetical work. Holy 
Scripture will supply us with the strongest proofs, the 
grandest figures, and the deepest affections. A good 
theological treatise will furnish us with clear, precise, 
and, above all, with sound and correct arguments ; 
whilst, from any standard work of ascetical theology, such 
as the Practice of Christian and Religious Perfection 



TWO WAYS OF MEDITATING A SUBJECT. 



59 



by Rodriguez, we shall draw, not only sound principles 
of Christian life and perfection to impart to others, but 
such an access of unction and religious feeling as will 
render our words warm and efficacious. For ordinary 
and familiar catechetical instructions we need scarcely 
go beyond the admirable Catechism of the Council of 
Trent, which, as every priest knows, treats in the most 
simple, but, at the same time, fruitful and lucid manner, 
of the Symbol, the Sacraments, the Commandments, 
and Prayer. The study of these works will perhaps be 
far more useful than any mere " sermon books." Ordi- 
nary sermon books will probably afford little assistance 
to most men. Such works contain, of course, set and 
finished sermons, developed and amplified according to 
recognized and established rules ; but it is evident to 
every one that a man who aspires to preach practically 
and to the point, with an earnest, sharp, and special 
application of his discourse to the special audience be- 
fore him, can only avail himself of their assistance with 
great difficulty, and with many palpable risks. 

The main point lies, not so much in the possession of 
many books, as in the thorough knowledge of a few. 
As we have said above, we ought to be able to lay our 
hand at once upon the book we need ; otherwise we 
shall lose more time in turning over the pages of various 
works than would have amply sufficed for oar purpose. 



60 



EXTEMPORARY PREACHING. 



And as we require ideas, not words, it is obvious that, 
for the greater number of men, the most practically 
useful books, in addition to those of which we have 
spoken, are either those which contain good skeleton 
sermoDS, of which we possess an abundance, especially 
in the French language ; or, matter for preaching, such 
as the " Thesaurus Biblicus," " Thesaurus Patrum," and 
perhaps best of all, " Instructissima Bibliotheca Manua- 
lis Concionatoria," of Lohner. 

Not only must we know where to go for matter, but 
what is equally important, we must know how to read. 
Many men read much and with very little practical 
result, since their reading is of such a discursive cha- 
racter as to leave no solid traces behind. Others read 
as though their object was to form their style; but 
although this was very good and very necessary in its 
own proper place, it is not the kind of reading which 
will be of any practical service to us in the circumstances 
which we are now considering. Now, we read simply 
in order to acquire matter ; matter which i& to be beaten 
into shape and reduced to order in the crucible of our 
own intellectual operation, that thus it may be laid 
before our hearers in such a manner as to contribute 
most powerfully and efficiently to the attainment of our 
end, the instruction and persuasion of our audience. 
Having selected our author, we propose to ourselves to 



TWO WATS OF MEDITATING A SUBJECT. 



01 



sift him to the very bottom, that we may, in the first 
place, refresh our memory on those matters which we 
may have begun to forget, and thus put ourselves in a 
position to impart sound, solid, and exact information and 
instruction on the point in question. More than this, we 
endeavour, ? if we happen to be studying a sermon or any 
other formal composition, to master and possess the gene- 
ral order of the discourse, and the manner in which the 
various ideas are brought out and presented. We also 
study the figures of speech, the comparisons, the exam- 
ples, the forcible illustrations, which give life and light 
to the ideas expressed, and contribute to the nerve, 
force, and beauty of the whole discourse. We read in 
such a manner as is best calculated to invigorate the 
imagination and set it in full play, to excite our zeal, to 
inspire us with conceptions that are full of life and 
passion ; in a word, to put the spirit of invention into 
full and active operation. 

It is obvious that these results will not be obtained 
by mere discursive or hasty reading. Hence, if we 
would read with profit, we must never lose sight of the 
great object in view. We must read slowly, carefully, 
and, above all, with pencil in hand ; and, reading thus, 
with deep and serious attention, and with the mind's 
eye ever turned in upon ourselves and the end to be 
gained, we must, as we proceed, make short but lucid 



62 



EXTEMPORARY PREACHING. 



and substantial notes of everything that strikes us as 
peculiarly useful either for the instruction, the convic- 
tion, or, the persuasion of our hearers. 

We must read in this manner : slowly, carefully, with 
pencil in hand, until we feel that we have done enough ; 
or, to use a still more homely phrase, we feel full of our 
subject. The time has then come to lay our book aside, 
to bring once more the operations of our mind into full 
play. To this end, we take up the notes which we 
made during our reading, and re-read them face to face 
with our subject. We ponder them seriously, 'before 
God ; we end eavour to penetrate them in all their 
varied significancy ; to discern and mark out, with the 
utmost possible clearness, the relations which they most 
naturally assume towards the subject which we have 
selected for our discourse. By this serious meditation 
we become fully possessed of our matter, and make it 
our own in the true and only sense in which it is ever 
lawful to appropriate and make use of the writings or 
conceptions of another. Although we are traversing a 
path which many have travelled before us leaving their 
traces behind them, and on which therefore it is almost 
impossible to be original in the full sense of the word, 
we, nevertheless, as Bautain remarks, attain that other 
species of originality which consists in putting forth no 
ideas except such as we have made our own, and which 



TWO WAYS OF MEDITATING A SUBJECT. 63 



we have thus quickened with the life of our own mind ; 
a condition which is indispensable if the discourse is to 
be vivified by the principle of life ; a condition which 
distinguishes the orator who speaks from the actor who 
merely impersonates ; since the former draws on his 
own interior resources even whilst he borrows the sub- 
stance of his ideas from another, whilst the latter, no 
matter how well he may act, never advances beyond the 
province of the actor, who does not even pretend to give 
expression to any sentiment of his own. Not only do 
we thus make the ideas which we may have borrowed 
from another our own, to be expressed, in due course, 
in our own way and in our own words, but we, at the 
same time, conceive our subject in the manner already 
described, and obtain a plain, clear, and tangible view of 
the leading idea of our discourse, that idea which is to 
be presently embodied in the proposition, to the estab- 
lishment of which we shall find, when we proceed to 
make our plan, that our " notes" will conduce in a mar- 
vellous and most useful manner. 

Thus, by the indirect method, do we arrive, if more 
laboriously, perhaps more safely, at the same result as 
was obtained by the man of greater genius, and of more 
brilliant attainments, through the mere force of his own 
keen piercing steady thought, viz., the conception of 
our subject. 



64 



EXTEMPORARY PREACHING. 



If we are compelled to travel by the slower route, let 
us be thankful that, leading as it does to such practical 
and satisfactory results, it is so easy, clear, and well- 
defined* 

* On this whole subject see "Sacred Eloquence," chap. iv. 
sec. ii., and chap. viii. sec. vi., third edition. 



CHAPTER VII. 



THE ARRANGEMENT OF THE MATTER OF OUR DIS- 
COURSE — ABSOLUTE NECESSITY OF SUCH ORDER AND 
ARRANGEMENT — ITS TRUE IDEA — OPINIONS OF ST. 
FRANCIS BORGIA, ST. CHARLES BORROMEO, ST. FRAN- 
CIS DE SALES, ST. VINCENT DE PAUL, ETC., ON THIS 
SUBJECT. 

E have now arrived at a very important point in 
the preparation of an extemporary discourse. 
Through the process of study, of thought, and of dili- 
gent reading, which we have been engaged in consider- 
ing during the last few pages, we have brought the 
young preacher to that point in which he will have 
obtained a clear conception of his subject, of the lead- 
ing idea which is to predominate and vivify his dis- 
course, and the general means by which he is to secure 
the end which he proposes to himself in his sermon. 
In other words, he will have secured the leading idea, 
and collected the materials of his discourse. 

6 




GO 



EXTEMPORARY PREACHING. 



Having made, during the course of his reading, more 
or less copious notes, he has under his eye, at this stage 
of his preparation, all those texts of Scripture, those 
extracts from the Fathers, those theological reasons, 
arguments, proofs, and illustrations, which seemed to 
him best calculated to instruct, convince, and move his 
hearers; he possesses abundant materials with which to 
raise the edifice that is presently to be erected, but, as 
yet, he possesses those materials in a confused mass. 
They lack that order, regularity, and symmetry, which 
are just as essential to the edifice which he proposes to 
raise, as the same qualities are necessary in the con- 
struction of a material building. As the wood and 
stone which have been brought together only become 
useful under the builder's hand when they are arranged 
according to the plans of the skilful architect who has 
conceived the design in its entirety and unity, so, the 
materials which the young preacher has collected during 
his study, only become thoroughly and practically effi- 
cient when they have been arranged with such skill 
and precision that everything will be in its proper place, 
and thus conduce, in the most striking manner, to the 
strength, the vigour, and the compactness of the whole. 

The preacher sees, indeed, at a glance, that whilst 
the idea of his discourse will necessarily be one, the 
points of view from which it may be presented, the 



NECESSITY OF ARRANGEMENT. 



67 



arguments by which it may be sustained, and the ex- 
amples by which it may be illustrated, will be various. 
He perceives, too, that his subject naturally divides 
itself into several leading heads, and that the materials 
which he has collected during his course of reading just 
as naturally conduce and lend themselves to the sustain- 
ment of one or other of these heads. And the task 
before him, at this moment, is thus to arrange and 
apportion his materials ; to reduce that which is con- 
fused to order ; in one word, to put everything into its 
proper place. 

No doubt we have all heard, over and over again, 
that "order is heaven's first law." By this primary 
operation of the Divine Hand, as it moved over the 
face of the deep, it brought forth, out of that which had 
been void and empty, order, life, and light. In his own 
degree and measure, the young preacher must play the 
part of a creator, since he must, by the arrangement 
and disposition of his materials, evoke order out of con- 
fusion, and give light to what, without this, would 
remain dark and obscure. The materials which he has 
collected constitute the matter or substance of his dis- 
course ; but, to this matter he must give its own proper 
form, since it is the form alone which is capable of im- 
parting beauty, light, and life; and he will do well 
never to lose sight of the truth laid down so forcibly by 



68 



EXTEMPOEAET PEEACHING. 



Fenelon, viz., that we seldom find perfect order in the 
operations of the mind and intellect. 

Abstracting for a moment from the precise method 
according to which we may arrange our materials and 
put them in order, we lay it down, then, as an incontro- 
vertible proposition, that some such disposition and 
arrangement is a point of the utmost importance; and 
one which will have the most direct influence upon the 
success of the discourse. 

By the order and disposition of a discourse we under- 
stand the tout-ensemble, or general effect and harmony 
of the whole, as well as the proportion of the various 
parts ; or, in other words, the general plan of the dis- 
course, its division into several great leading heads, and 
the unity or connection of the whole. St. Francis Bor- 
gia* speaks with special emphasis and clearness of the 
absolute necessity of this orderly arrangement of the 
materials of our discourse. "An architect," says he, 
" when he is about to construct a grand edifice, is not 
satisfied with merely collecting the materials which he 
needs. On the contrary, his attention is principally 
directed to the manner in which they are to be arranged, 
and how he may give the necessary proportions and 
strength to the various parts of the building. Consider 

* " De Eatione Concionandi." Cap. 4. 



NECESSITY OF AEKANGEMENT. 



09 



the action of God/' he continues, " in the creation of the 
■world. Did he not, in the first place, reduce chaos to 
order, and bring forth light out of darkness ? Did he 
not arrange all things else in their own proper position 
before proceeding to the creation of man ?" Behold the 
model of the preacher ! It is thus that he ought, in the 
first place, to select his subject, to meditate it, and to 
obtain a general idea of it in its entirety. Then, he 
must arrange his materials with assiduous care, putting 
each part in its own proper place, so that, each member 
contributing its own share to the general result, order, 
wisdom, and intelligence may pervade and dominate the 
entire discourse. 

It is scarcely necessary to dwell at greater length 
upon the utility, not to say the absolute necessity, of 
order and arrangement, if our preaching is to be prac- 
tically successful. It is scarcely worth while either to 
glance at a difficulty which is raised now and again, 
probably by those who wish to find an excuse for their 
own short-comings, to the effect that no such order or 
arrangement as that on which we insist is to be found 
in the sermons and instructions of the Fathers. This 
is one of those specious objections which are scarcely 
worth answering. It may suffice to say that it will be 
time enough for most preachers to despise or neglect 
the ordinary rules and precautions which prudent me a 



70 



EXTEMPORARY PREACHING. 



are but too glad to take, when they shall have received 
the inspirations, the assistance, and the light from 
above, which were so lavishly bestowed upon the 
Fathers, and which ordinary mortals, who neglect the 
ordinary means of doing His work which God has 
placed within their reach, are least of all likely to re- 
ceive. No doubt the Fathers knew perfectly well what 
was best suited to the times in which they lived and 
the people amongst whom they ministered, and that 
they employed the means which they judged best suited 
to the end. But it is no less certain that St. Charles, 
St. Francis Borgia, St. Francis of Sales, St. Vincent of 
Paul, and St. Liguori, also knew perfectly well the style 
of preaching which was best suited to the necessities of 
after ages, and these great saints and masters of sacred 
eloquence all speak emphatically of the necessity of 
order, of arrangement, and careful disposition of mate- 
rials, in sermons which are to be successful in modern 
times. That the sermons of the Fathers produced great 
results in their day, and results to which we may not 
aspire, is most undoubtedly true; but, it is no less true, 
that, in our day, the only sermons which produce tan- 
gible and lasting results are those which are distin- 
guished for order, clearness, and definiteness of purpose. 
Pulpit eloquence may indeed be brilliant and sparkling 
without being orderly or practical , it will not rarely 



NECESSITY OF AKKANGEMENT. 



71 



happen, perhaps, that its deficiency of practical applica- 
tion will be in direct proportion to its brilliancy ; but 
although such preaching may please for the moment, 
and fill the mouths of men with the praises of the orator, 
it will leave no fruit behind ; it will be as barren of real 
results as it will be unworthy of Almighty God and the 
sacred chair. 

Besides, it is well to bear in mind the character of 
the greater number of the discourses delivered by the 
holy Fathers. These were simple homilies, or, cateche- 
tical instructions. This style of preaching* does not 
require the same amount of order and precision as the 
more formal discourses which are so generally delivered 
now-a-days. But, it is a great mistake to suppose, that 
even this kind of discourse does not demand careful 
preparation, more perhaps than it frequently receives ; 
and the preacher will do well to bear in mind that, so 
far from being exempted from this preparation by the 
fact that his audience may be composed of ignorant and 
unlettered persons, he will, on this very account, be 
doubly bound to secure order and precision in his re- 
marks, since, the more ignorant people are, the more 
difficulty they have in comprehending anything that is 
not laid before them in the clearest and plainest 



* " The Pastor and His People." Part ii. ? chap. iL 



72 



EXTEMPORARY PREACHING. 



manner. For ordinary clergymen, with ordinary abili- 
ties and practice, there is only one way of securing this 
precious clearness and definiteness of speech, and that 
is by careful study and preparation. 

Let us repeat, then, once more, that a most important 
point in the preparation of a sermon, and, above all, 
of an extemporary sermon, is the arrangement of our 
matter, the " utilis distributio rerum ac partium in lo- 
cos," as Quintilian calls it.* Let us repeat, too, that by 
the " res," of which'there is'here question, we understand 
the leading idea of the discourse, as well as those great 
primary thoughts which are to dominate and govern it, 
those distinguishing features which will give its own 
proper character to the commencement, the body, and 
the conclusion of a sermon. So long as this end is se- 
cured ; so long as the substance of his discourse stands 
forth sharp, clear, and well-defined, before the mind's 
eye of the preacher ; so long as each member is seen to 
be in its own proper place, fulfilling its own proper 
function, and lending its own degree of strength to the 
body of which it forms a part ; so long as that body 
itself presents a compact, graceful, and perfect contour 
to the gaze of him who has fashioned it and brought it 
in to life ; it matters but little by what means, or in 



* Lib. vii. cap. 1. 



NECESSITY OF ARRANGEMENT. 



73 



accordance with what method, this result is obtained, 
and each one will do well to follow to a considerable 
extent, although with due prudence and discretion, the 
bent of his own taste and the promptings of his own 
genius on this point. 



CHAPTER VIII. 



THE TWO GEEAT METHODS OF PRESENTING A SUBJECT — 
BY "PLAN," OR BY " VIEW " — OBVIOUS DANGER OF 
THE " FORMAL PLAN "—METHOD OF PROCEEDING BY 
" VIEW "— LACORDAIRE — THIS METHOD IS NOT SUITED 
TO MEN OF ORDINARY TALENTS — SUPERIOR ADVAN- 
TAGES OF THE "PLAN." 




LL possible methods or forms of arranging our 
matter eventually resolve themselves into two, 



and these we shall now briefly consider. 

The more common and ordinary method of arranging 
our matter consists in the formation of a formal plan 
of the discourse which we propose to deliver — a plan 
which, whilst it will carefully avoid all undue formality 
or pedantic stiffness, will, nevertheless, arrange every- 
thing in its own proper place, will have the ideas of its 
introduction, its proposition, its arguments, exempli- 
fications, and the broad details of the appeals to be 
addressed to the passions of the hearers, so clearly 
and definitely marked out as to provide the preacher 
with a shapely, compact, and well-knit skeleton on which 



HOW TO AERANGE OUR MATTER. 75 

the mind's eye may rest without risk of mistaking one 
member for another, or confusing the whole. There is 
no need to speak of the confidence and absolute sense 
of security which the possession of such a skeleton im- 
parts to the preacher; and hence it is little wonder 
to find that this method of arranging the matter of a 
discourse is the one which has ever been most gene- 
rally followed. And, as we have said in another place,* 
this method is equally useful, whether we propose to 
write our sermon or to preach extempore; or, rather, 
whilst it is almost indispensable to him who writes, 
it is, in the opinion of many, absolutely so to him 
who extemporises^ Amongst the moderns, Bourdaloue 
and Massillon, although cultivators of the more formal 
style which supposes careful writing and delivery from 
memory, and, in no sense of the word, extemporary 
preachers, are remarkable for the beauty and perfec- 
tion of their plans. Massillon's sermons, " Sur la Verite 
de la Religion," and " Sur la Passion," as well as Bourda- 
loue's discourse, " Sur la Loi Chretienne," are striking 
examples of this, and worthy of the most careful study 
by every one who desires to see for himself how per- 
fectly order, clearness, and definiteness of aim may 
be secured without running to the extreme of stiffness 
and pedantry. 

* " Saered Eloquence" 



76 



EXTEMPORARY PREACHING. 



For, it is pretty evident, that the great danger which 
awaits those who habitually make careful plans or ske- 
letons of their sermons, and who learn to lean very 
much upon these plans, is that of stiffness and for- 
mality. Such preachers run a great risk of always com- 
posing their discourses in precisely the same manner, 
and that manner a very imperfect one. In fact, the 
sermon writers of the seventeenth and eighteenth cen- 
turies, as well as some of earlier times, often carried 
formality and mere method to such an excess in the 
arrangement of their discourses, that there has arisen a 
very decided, and, under the circumstances, not unna- 
tural reaction ; and now-a-days, men, discarding what 
they call formality and pedantry, are all in favour of 
taking " broad views " of their subject ; a method which, 
if not always successful in its results, possesses at least 
the charm of novelty, and saves a preacher a great deal 
of time and labour, 

Lacordaire was one of the most distinguished advo- 
cates and disciples of this new method ; and his peculiar 
system, as well as the general bearings of the whole 
case, are so lucidly stated in an admirable article in a 
recent number of the Dublin Review,* that, without 

* Dublin Review, Oct., 1870. " Lacordaire and the Con- 
ferences." 



HOW TO ARRANGE OUR MATTER. 



77 



thereby endorsing or fully identifying ourselves with 
the writer's views on this particular point, we shall 
quote somewhat copiously from the article in ques- 
tion 

" Perhaps there is nothing," he says, writing of La- 
cordaire, " in which he innovated so much, at least in 
the French pulpit, as in his manner of reasoning by 
'views/ The scholastic way was to take a question, 
choose a side, and heap up arguments to prove the con- 
clusion. The way of the ponderous sermon- writers of 
the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries was radically 
the same, except that their proofs were often distorted 
by fantasy, bloated by impertinent matter, and nearly 
always overloaded with what, in small quantities, might 
have been tolerable. The great French preachers (per- 
haps S. Francis of Sales first set the example of short 
sermons at his epoch) cut down the huge growths of 
their predecessors, and made preaching an art. They 
preserved the method of the ' thesis,' but they added 
the graces of artistic imagery, and they showed the 
world what was meant by ' style.' They unfortunately 
succeeded too well. They created what must always 
be one of the drawbacks of excellent art — they created 
a ' groove ' for their successors. A groove is composed 
of the accidental and secondary attributes of a great 
school of art. Every educated reader has an acquaint- 



78 



EXTEMPORARY PREACHING. 



ance with French sermons. Every one knows numbers 
of them that are undeniably well written, learned, just, 
and polished. But there is hardly any one who has not 
been repelled by a certain uniformity, a kind of regi- 
mental ' set-up,' that seems to strangle the life out of 
them. It was a great change w T hen Lacordaire dis- 
pensed with proposition and proof, and began to develop 
1 views.' A view is a truth taken up in a novel light, 
and carefully placed before the mental eye of the 
hearer, with all the clearness and brilliancy that can be 
given by artistic analysis, development, and illustration. 
In Lacordaire, the view by no means shuts out reason- 
ing. On the contrary, there is no word which he uses 
more frequently than 'demonstration.' But the reason- 
ing is the hidden thread on which the jewels are strung. 
Major and minor, antecedent and parallel, are no longer 
like the straight-sawn beams that a carpenter brings to 
build his shed for humanity to shelter in; but fresh 
boughs, with the leaves green and the fruit unplucked, 
that an artist masses into bowers of beauty. An essen- 
tial of a ( view ' is novelty. If a view is old or trite, it 
is not to be called a view, for it cannot impress the 
sense of the hearer. And Lacordaire was fortunate in 
novelty, and as bold as he was fortunate." 

The able writer whom we have here quoted has put 
the case, about as strongly as it can be put, against the 



HOW TO ARRANGE OUR MATTER. 



79 



old and more common method of arranging the matter 
of a sermon by means of a methodical plan to be care- 
fully worked out. But he has said nothing of the ob- 
vious dangers which beset this new-fashioned method 
of " taking a view," nor of the excesses in this direction 
which have already called forth the reprobation of some 
of the ablest modern writers on sacred eloquence. 

As the Abbe Bautain* says so well, although for- 
merly the fault lay in the excess of the dialectical turn ? 
by which men did much to spoil their sty leby dryness, 
heaviness, and an appearance of pedantry, still they 
knew how to state a question, and how to treat it. 
They knew at which end to begin it in order to develop 
it; and the line of argument which they distinctly 
marked out had at least the merit of leading straight 
to the object and to its conclusion. The fault now-a- 
days," he continues, " lies in the absence or deficiency 
of all method. Although they may understand it well 
enough, men remain a long time before their subject 
without knowing how to begin it. This leads to inter- 
minable preparations, to desultory introductions, to con- 
fused expositions, to developments as vague as they are 
disorderly, and, finally, to no conclusion, or, at least, to 
no conclusion that is practical or decisive. Nearly all 



* " Extemporary Speaking." By M. Bautain. 



80 



EXTEMPORARY PREACHING. 



the barriers," he proceeds, "which supported and di- 
rected human activity having been removed, liberty 
has become disorder, men leave the beaten track to 
walk, as they imagine, more at their ease ; and, so far 
from gaining by it, they lose much of their time and 
their strength in seeking paths which they would have 
found from the first if they could have submitted them- 
selves to discipline, and allowed themselves to be 
guided. Aspiring to think in their own fashion, or 
aiming at originality, they think at random, and just 
as ideas happen to come to them. The result is, for 
the most part* vagueness, oddity, and confusion. Now- 
a-days everybody seeks to speak of everything, and the 
natural result is, that, amid this torrent of divergent 
or irreconcilable words, the minds of men are tossed to 
and fro, without a notion whither they are going, just 
as the wind blows, or the current of the moment drives 
them." 

The Abbe Mullois* is equally emphatic on this point. 
" It is all well enough," he says, " that a few eminent 
men should treat select questions before select au- 
diences ; but now everyone seems bent on talking phi- 
losophy, or on philosophizing about everything. We 
have the philosophy of theology, the philosophy of the 



* " Cours d'Eloquence Sacree." 



HOW TO ARRANGE OITR MATTER. 81 



sacraments, the philosophy of the liturgy : and to what 
does it all tend ? To prove that God might have occu- 
pied a prominent place among the thinkers of these 
times; which would be proving very little in God's 
favour." 

And, after all, how many men are there whose ac- 
quirements, self-control, strong common sense, and ready 
but disciplined powers of speech, fit them "to take 
views " 1 A Lacordaire may, perhaps, safely adopt 
such a style of preaching ; but how many men are 
there who can safely afford to follow his example ? The 
old-fashioned method of working out a set plan has 
undoubtedly its drawbacks. Unless managed with pru- 
dence and discretion, it is very apt to end in stiffness 
and tiresome formality ; but even while labouring under 
this defect (which is by no means inherent or necessary 
to a plan), it still possesses one great and distinguishing 
prerogative : it enables a man to state a question, helps 
him to develop it, and, almost as a matter of necessity, 
and a very happy one, keeps him to the point. This 
"keeping to the point" is surely a great thing in a 
sermon ; perhaps it is nearly everything so far as ordi- 
nary congregations are concerned; but of how many 
preachers who "take views" can it be predicated? 
What is novelty, novelty even of the most striking 

kind, in comparison with it ? The strength of a sermon 

7 



82 



EXTEMPORARY PREACHING. 



does not consist in brilliant but disconnected ideas — in 
startling, but, most likely, vague and unpractical pro- 
positions. The discourse of the man, certainly of the 
ordinary man, who attempts to advance by way of 
" view," is almost sure to be fragmentary and discon- 
nected. It is possible that these fragmentary members 
may be elegant, and even striking, in themselves ; but, 
from the very fact that they are thus disconnected and 
fragmentary, they will never constitute really strong 
preaching, since the real strength of a sermon lies in 
the intimate relation, and the perfect agreement, of one 
part to another and to the whole. The composition of 
the ordinary man — for we repeat once more that we do 
not lay down rules for a Lacordaire or a Felix — who 
proposes to himself to " take views," is almost certain 
to lack that strict and logical sequence of ideas, of 
proofs, and of arguments, without which, resting upon 
the authority of St. Augustine,* we have no hesitation 
in saying that a sermon is essentially faulty. Such a 
preacher is as likely as not to say at the commencement 
of his discourse that which he should have reserved for 
the conclusion. Arguments depend for their effect upon 
the strict order and coherence which exists between 
them. The arguments of a man who does not clearly 



* I. Epis., xviii. 



HOW TO ARRANGE OUR MATTER. 



83 



see either the point from which he starts, or that to 
which he travels, who is carried away by every passing 
impulse, who is much more anxious to be novel and 
startling than simple and practical, are nearly certain 
to lack this order and coherence, and, lacking this, to be 
without vigour or strength. 

We do not, of course, mean to assert that the man 
who theorizes, who takes new and startling views of 
things, may not preserve order and logical sequence of 
ideas in his discourse. No doubt Lacordaire was orderly 
and logical. But, we do believe most emphatically, that 
more ordinary men, men with fewer natural qualifica- 
tions, men with more limited powers of thought, and 
more circumscribed opportunities of exercising those 
powers, will fail to secure these essential conditions, not 
only of really good, but even of tolerable speaking, if 
they attempt to travel by the same paths. 

By all means then, when, once in a generation, a 
Lacordaire makes his appearance in the world, let him 
take his own way, and follow the bent of his own tower- 
ing genius. Such a man is a born orator, and, like the 
poet, he is to be trammelled by no ordinary rules; 
although, it may be, that men, neither inferior in talent 
nor attainments, such as Massillon, have not disdained to 
raise the loftiest and most enduring monuments of their 
genius upon the foundation of these very same rules. 



84 



EXTEMPORARY PREACHING. 



When a man like Lacordaire is called to preach to 
Indifferent or unbelieving Frenchmen, the method by 
which they are to be attracted and retained to listen to 
the truth may safely be left to the inspirations of his 
own great intellect ; and we may content ourselves with 
the expression of our gratitude that a man could be 
found with a genius to devise, and a tongue to deve- 
lop, such a grand scheme of displaying the great truths 
of religion and morality, as should not only attract an 
audience, so exceptional and so strangely composed, by 
its novelty and its brilliant treatment, but, also win, at 
least some of them, to the service of God, by its earnest- 
ness and its loving zeal. 

But, it by no means follows, that we should recom- 
mend ordinary men, in ordinary circumstances, to adopt, 
or even to attempt to cultivate, the same style of preach- 
ing. Such men must rely for their success upon a sim- 
ple and instructive style : upon expression becoming 
him who speaks : upon doctrine sound in its source and 
logical in its form : and above all, upon instruction ex- 
actly adapted to the intelligence of the people, and 
calculated to promote in the most efficacious manner 
the correction of vice, as well as the development and 
advancement of solid virtue, amongst our hearers. 

We believe that these results will rarely, if ever, be 
secured by an ordinary speaker in any other way than 



HOW TO ARRANGE OUR MATTER. 



85 



by means of a well-conceived, a deeply-pondered, and a 
carefully-elaborated plan. Fully impressed by this 
idea, and firmly believing that this is the only method 
of preparing and arranging his matter which we can 
venture practically to recommend to the young preacher, 
we shall now proceed to consider the leading qualities 
of such a plan, and the principal defects to be avoided 
in its construction. 



CHAPTER IX. 




PLAN OF A DISCOURSE — GENERAL OBJECT OF THE PLAN 
AND ITS RELATION TO THE DISCOURSE — WHAT THE 
EDUCATED LAITY SAY OF THE ELOQUENCE OF THE 
PULPIT. 

EFORE proceeding to the consideration of the 
actual arrangement of the plan of a discourse, 
its leading qualities, and its principal defects, the young 
preacher will do well to review, yet once more, his 
knowledge and thorough appreciation of one or two of 
the primary ideas which must be carefully kept in view 
while studying this important matter. 

In the first place, then, let him remember that a ser- 
mon is something more than a mere collection of dis- 
connected thoughts, sentiments, or ideas, however touch- 
ing or beautiful in themselves, upon a given subject; 
that it is a logical and closely reasoned discourse, having 
for its object the establishment and sustainment of one 
great leading practical truth, and employing for this 
end certain arguments, illustrations, and appeals which, 



THE PLAN OF THE DISCOURSE. 



87 



though they may differ from one another, will be so 
closely welded and linked together by one great chain 
of coherent unity as to contribute, in the strongest pos- 
sible manner, to the common end. 

Let him, in the second place, remember that his ser- 
mon will be nothing more than the development of one 
great leading practical truth, and that this truth, em- 
bodied in a plain practical proposition, to be enunciated 
more or less formally as circumstances may require or 
suggest, will thus form the foundation of his discourse. 

Let him remember, thirdly, that, whilst the leading 
truth or idea to be presented will be essentially one, 
it may, and perhaps ought, be presented to his au- 
dience under various points of view ; as when we prove 
the obligation of loving God from the threefold argu- 
ment that He is our Creator, our Preserver, and our 
Redeemer. Let him remember, that, although these 
two or three leading arguments, or points of view, 
which will form the parts of his discourse, are, in them- 
selves, in one sense, general propositions, inasmuch as 
they supply the foundation of special arguments and 
oratorical developments, they are, at the same time, 
on account of the strict coherence and connection which 
exists between them and the subject, resolved or merged 
in another proposition which is still more general, viz., 
that of the discourse itself. 



88 



EXTEMPORARY PREACHING. 



With these leading ideas of the nature of a sermon 
clearly before our mind, let us now proceed to consider 
how we may arrange the matter of our discourse most 
effectively, and with the greatest practical result, by 
means of a careful and well devised plan. 

At the moment when we have, whether it be directly 
or indirectly, conceived our subject, that subject stands 
out before us in one sense clearly, in another sense 
enveloped in a certain amount of obscurity. 

We see clearly, and with the utmost distinctness, the 
one great leading idea, the one plain practical truth, 
which is to be carried home to the minds and hearts of 
our hearers. We see, too— although perhaps not quite 
so clearly — that the matter with which our course of 
reading has supplied us, the arguments, comparisons, 
illustrations, and sympathetic appeals, which have been 
carefully recorded in our notes, range themselves natu- 
rally and instinctively, so to speak, under two or three 
great leading heads. In other words, that they are 
referrible either to Sacred Scripture, to theology, or to 
reason and experience, but that, inasmuch as they 
have not yet been referred to their own proper heading, 
or put in their own proper place, a certain disorder and 
confusion, resulting in obscurity, exists amongst them. 
And it is the precise object of the plan of the discourse 
to get rid of this obscurity by thus putting everything 



THE PLAN OF THE DISCOUKSE. 



89 



in its own place ; so that, when we ascend the pulpit 
to extemporise, we may carry in our mind a clear and 
sharply denned skeleton of the discourse which we in- 
tend to deliver— a well regulated plan which shall at 
once lend that strength to our composition which ever 
springs from order and logical sequence of ideas, and 
that confidence to ourselves which is never wanting to 
any man who speaks with the conscious knowledge 
that he has something to say, something worth say- 
ing, and that he not only knows what he is about to 
say, but also how he intends to say it; or, in other 
words, the order and connection of his discourse — of 
one part with another and with the whole. 

From all this, then, it follows plainly enough that by 
the plan of a discourse we understand the " utilis dis- 
tribute partium in locos," or, to use the definition of 
an eminent writer on this subject, the order of the things 
which have to be unfolded. The " partes," the " things/' 
already exist in our notes, or in our memory. But they 
exist, as we have just seen, in a more or less confused 
mass, and enveloped with more or less of obscurity. 
And it is the purpose and object of the plan to arrange 
them in that order in which they are to be unfolded. 
In other words : by the arrangement of the plan of our 
discourse is simply understood the taking of our pen in 
hand, and, with the principles presently to be enun- 



90 EXTEMPORARY PREACHING. 

ciated clearly before our minds, the orderly arrangement 
of the materials of our discourse under one, two, or 
three, great leading heads. 

No doubt, all this appears very formal and pedantic 
on paper, but there is no necessity that, in its practical 
application, this orderly arrangement of our matter 
need partake in the least degree of these qualities. 
General principles, if clearly and definitely stated, 
nearly always appear stiff and formal in theory. Gene- 
ral principles may be reduced to 'practice and employed 
with perfect ease, freedom, and grace. 

And let the young preacher be perfectly certain that, 
as we have already said, the necessity of order in his 
discourse is simply absolute. It is a necessity which 
he can afford neither to overlook nor to neglect. No 
matter how beautiful or how carefully composed the 
various members of his discourse may be, they will, 
unless connected by a methodical and well devised 
plan, no more constitute a practical and useful sermon 
than wood and stones suffice to build a house until they 
are arranged and placed in order according to the plan 
of the architect. Many preachers fail. Some cover 
themselves with a shame and confusion, which is only 
surpassed by that of true and earnest friends who 
wished them well, but who are obliged to witness their 
discomfiture. Few succeed perfectly. And how is this ? 



THE PLAN OF THE DISCOUESE. 



91 



Is it from want of talent, poverty of matter, or defects 
of style and delivery ? We venture to say that, in the 
majority of cases, failure is to be attributed to none of 
these causes, so much as to the want of order and 
method, and the consequent absence of any definite 
end, aim, or object. It is too true that, in many of the 
discourses to which we listen, the preacher, as Whately 
sarcastically remarked, aims at nothing, and hits it. 
It is said often enough, and men of the world say it 
openly, without any attempt to conceal their senti- 
ments on the matter, that there is too much preaching, 
such as it is, now-a-days. Now, we are not disposed to 
attach undue importance to what the educated laity, as 
they are called, say on these matters; for, as it has 
been well observed,* " many men do not care for ser- 
mons, or dislike them, because of their distaste in gene- 
ral for spiritual things. They are without real interest 
in the subject itself, and, hence, they pervert the use of 
sermons, looking upon them, as they do, altogether 
from a wrong point of view. Lacking interest in the 
subject, they turn their attention upon the manner, 
rather than the matter, of the discourse; they look 
upon the discourse as if it were intended to be, not 
speaking to the point on a practical subject, but a dis- 
play of eloquence and artistic skill. If the style of the 
* "Dublin Review," vol. xxsvi. 



92 



EXTEMPORARY PREACHING. 



preacher, his language, or action, dissatisfies them, these 
men are dissatisfied with the sermon, because this is 
their idea of a sermon. They come away, and the re- 
flections they make are not on the subject of the dis- 
course — this escapes their notice — but simply and 
entirely on the skill of the preacher." But, whilst we 
take the opinion of these people simply for what it is 
worth, may we not, at the same time, fairly ask whether 
they are altogether wrong ? What is the use of preach- 
ing unless it secure some object and gain some practi- 
cal end, an end altogether different from the mere 
discharge of a duty by routine, or the filling up of a 
certain space of time ? And, yet, is it altogether very 
wild, or very uncharitable, to assert that there are ser- 
mons which seem to have no other end or object than 
this ? Does the Pere Albert speak the truth when he 
says that there are few preachers now-a-days who ever 
convert a sinner, simply because there are few who ever 
propose to themselves to do anything of the kind 1 Is; 
it true, as he adds, that most preachers would be very 
much astonished if you informed them that one of their 
sermons had produced any such result ? Is it true that 
men are frequently so taken up with the merely tech- 
nical part of this important duty as to lose sight of the 
end and object of every good discourse, which is the 
instruction of our hearers, and the effectual moving of 
them to amend their lives ? 



THE PLAN OF THE DISCOURSE. 



93 



If these things be true in any measure or degree, 
and we do not presume to assert that they are, it is 
little wonder that preachers should lose sight of order 
and definiteness of aim in their discourses ; but it is 
less wonder still that such discourses should be without 
profit and result, or that the educated laity should 
daily grow more and more impatient of the teaching of 
the pulpit. 

Let us, then, repeat once more, that if we would 
avoid failure, if we would secure our preaching from the 
adverse criticism of the educated laity — matters of 
comparatively little importance in themselves — if we 
would save souls by our preaching, and do the work of 
God as it ought to be done — a matter of very great 
importance — we must preach with order and method ; 
and that a young preacher will hardly secure this order 
and method in any other way than by taking his pen 
in his hand and drawing up a plan or sketch of the 
discourse which he proposes to deliver. In no other 
way will he secure these most desirable results with 
equal ease and success. 



CHAPTER X. 



THE PLAN OF A DISCOURSE THE FRUIT OF DEEP 
THOUGHT AND OF MUCH REFLECTION — ESSENTIAL 
PROPERTIES OF A GOOD PLAN — ITS INFLUENCE ON 
SUCCESS. 

S we have sufficiently demonstrated in the pre- 
ceding sections the absolute necessity of order 
and arrangement in every practically good discourse, 
and shown that ordinary men, in ordinary circum- 
stances, will hardly secure this desirable result in 
any other way than by means of a clear and well 
digested plan, it follows as a natural consequence, that 
we now proceed to make some inquiry into the nature 
and essential qualities of such a plan. 

The plan of a preacher holds precisely the same re- 
lation to the sermon which he proposes to preach as 
the plan of the architect holds to the edifice which he 
proposes to erect. Seizing the subject in its fruitful 
unity and in all its varied relations, a plan thus em- 




ESSENTIAL PKOPERTIES OF A PLAN. 95 

braces it, whole, entire, and complete, in one grand 
coup-d'oeil. If the plan of a discourse does not enable 
its author, or any intelligent observer, to perceive with 
one ready glance the idea to be realized, and the means 
for its realization, just as clearly as the plan of a 
material edifice enables the architect to do the same in 
his own way and from his own point of view, it is a 
failure. And from this idea of it the reader will see at 
once the nature, the utility, and the difficulty of form- 
ing such a plan. 

Of its utility we have already said enough, at least 
by implication. Of its nature we shall presently speak 
more at length. It may not be amiss to say, in the 
first place, a few words of the difficulty which the young 
preacher may find in forming his plan according to the 
ideas just thrown out. 

We have said above that a good plan, seizing the sub- 
ject in its fruitful unity and its varied relations, ena- 
bles the preacher to embrace that subject, wholly, 
entirely, and completely, in one grand coup-d'ceil. But 
is it not plain that, although the difficulty will decrease 
with each succeeding effort which we may make, it will 
not be so very easy in the beginning to sketch such a 
plan as this. For it undoubtedly requires considerable 
grasp of mind, mental vigour, and practical experience, 
thus to be able to embrace at one quick glance, a sub- 



96 



EXTEMPOEAEY PREACHING. 



ject in its entirety, and its relations. This faculty will 
most surely come, and very quickly too, to him who 
sedulously cultivates it ; but it Tvill not come without 
much careful and persevering cultivation. As Buffon 
remarks, we only arrive at this point after long habits 
of thought and reflection. And if many men never 
arrive at this point — if many men never acquire the 
invaluable faculty of analyzing and throwing matter 
into shape and order — it is because they never cultivate 
it. And in the fact that many men either do not 
appreciate, or do not cultivate this faculty, Girard finds 
the explanation of another fact, viz., that, although we 
meet many orators who can treat us to delicious and 
sparkling morsels, and who work out fragmentary de- 
tails in a truly admirable manner, we find very few 
who are able to present us with a perfect whole. Here 
they fail ; but, failing in this essential quality, the 
curse of sterility falls upon their happiest efforts, and 
upon their most sparkling and brilliant productions. 
Is not this what Horace means in his well known 
line ?*— 

" Infelix operis summa, quia ponere totum nesciet." 

The young preacher must, then, struggle vigorously 
against the difficulty which he will find in his first 



* Art. Poet. 34. 



ESSENTIAL PROPERTIES OF A PLAN. 



97 



attempts to grasp his subject in its entirety, and to 
arrange the materials of his discourse in due order and 
proportion. Let him make the effort boldly ; let him 
persevere for a little time ; and he will be astonished 
how soon the precious faculty will come to him. It 
is the fruit of labour ; above all, it is the fruit of prac- 
tice.* 

Buffon asks the question how you are to teach a 
young preacher to form the plan of his discourse ; and 
he answers that there is one great means above all 
others, viz., the habit of thought and reflection. And 
what he says is true, at least in a great measure and 
degree; for, as almost every subject will require to be 
treated in some special way and from some special 
point of view, it is evident that you cannot lay down 
any uniform rule or method, and that you must ulti- 
mately fall back upon that good sense, and that perfect 

* I may remark here, since it has a very practical bearing 
on this subject, that I invariably oblige my pupils to make 
a careful and accurate synopsis of every sermon which they 
compose during their college course. And I do this for two 
reasons : firstly, to give them great readiness and facility of 
analyzing, and throwing into shape and order the matter 
which they read or write; and secondly, because I hope 
that these synopses of the sermons which they write in col- 
lege will serve them as plans of extemporary discourses for 
the mission. — T. J. P. 

8 



93 



EXTEMPORARY PREACHING. 



taste, which are the precious fruits of long habits of 
thought and of much practical experience. But, at the 
same time, there are certain general principles, certain 
essential and inherent qualities of a plan, the know- 
ledge and careful study of which will do much to assist 
the preacher. They will not supply him with the 
matter of his discourse, but they will aid him much to 
acquire an intelligent appreciation of it, as well in its 
fruitful unity as in the relations of the various parts to 
the whole. This knowledge will aid most effectually 
to keep him constantly under the guidance and the 
directing influence of good taste — that good taste which 
is one of the safest and most reliable handmaids of 
genius — which is, not unfrequently, a more valuable 
possession than genius itself. 

These general principles, these inherent qualities, 
are, of course, pure essentials of the plan itself. They 
spring from its essence, they help to explain and eluci- 
date its character, and they lead us into a more perfect 
knowledge of the nature of the plan as a whole, through 
our knowledge of its properties and fundamental quali- 
ties. But, their proper function ceases here, since they 
neither profess to supply us with the substantial matter 
of our discourse, nor with the tact, discretion, and good 
taste, with which that discourse is to be applied to the 
special necessities and requirements of our special au- 
dience. 



ESSENTIAL PROPERTIES OF A PLAN. 99 

The perfection, then, of every good plan will depend 
upon the due presence of certain qualities, essential to 
the plan itself, and derivable from its very nature ; and 
these qualities are neatness and simplicity, a just pro- 
portion, and, above all, a fruitful unity. 

The plan of a discourse should be neat — that is, it 
should be drawn out with such exactness, and with 
such an orderly and logical distribution of all its parts, 
as will enable its author to take in at a glance the one 
end to be gained and the means of gaining it. There 
will be nothing in this plan which will be obscure or 
doubtful ; no feature of it which will not indicate some- 
thing of importance. It will not embrace many great 
ideas ; but each idea which it embraces will, in some 
degree at least, be a great one, and one which will con- 
tain in itself the source of many happy thoughts and of 
many fruitful inspirations. And, as the plan is, in the 
strictest sense of the word, the mere skeleton of the 
sermon, the rough draft which the skilful hand of the 
artist traces out in order to secure unity of view and of 
means before he begins to fill in the rich and varied 
details of his composition, it will, as a necessary conse- 
quence, be simple. It will admit of no style or fine 
writing. It will contain, not the development of fine 
ideas, but the skeleton of them. It will form the dry 
bones — strong, vigorous, and compact as you will, but 



100 



EXTEMPORARY PREACHING. 



still the dry bones, which the skilful hand of the artist 
is presently to clothe with living flesh and muscle ; and 
it will neither form, nor aim at forming, anything 
more. 

The plan should he duly proportioned ; that is to 
say, in sketching the plan of a discourse we should 
assign to each truth, to each great idea, and to each 
leading argument, that degree of prominence which is 
intrinsically or relatively due to it ; so that there shall 
reign in the whole discourse a true and legitimate con- 
cord of its various parts, one to another, and to the 
whole. 

This proportion and harmony, which contribute so 
powerfully to the beauty of a discourse, are doubly 
necessary to him who extemporises.* Unless the va- 
rious parts of his discourse be duly proportioned before- 
hand, and strongly determined and marked out — unless 
he have put everything in its own place, and done this 
with such neatness, clearness, simplicity, and order, as 
never to lose sight of the great leading idea of his ser- 
mon — unless the plan be so arranged that, in its work- 
ing out, the development of each great thought, and of 
each line of argument, lead him back to this parent 
idea — the extemporary preacher runs great risk of de- 



* Bautain. 



ESSENTIAL PROPERTIES OF A PLAN. 101 

livering a discourse which will be much more remark- 
able for diffuseness, disorder, and confusion, than for 
the contrary qualities. Most preachers, rightly enough, 
propose to divide their discourse into three great parts, 
viz., introduction, body, and conclusion. But neglecting, 
or being unable, to proportion these parts duly, the 
result is a monstrum horrendum. Some spend nearly 
the whole time in beating about the bush, in labouring 
to break the ground and open up the subject; and the 
monster which they create is known by his enormous 
head. They never really get beyond the introduction. 
There are others who seem unable to finish — who never 
know when or how to wind up ; and their creation is 
known by the length of his tail. There are others, 
who, forgetting that each argument or head of the dis- 
course should be merely a development of the leading 
idea of the whole — forgetting that their secondary pro- 
positions or accessory thoughts have no real utility 
except what they derive from that leading idea — spend 
too much time, and dilate too much, upon those second- 
ary propositions ; and, doing this at the cost of the 
parent idea, they produce an excrescence which deforms 
and mars the beauty of the object whence it has its 
source. In all these, and many other cases of the like 
nature, the result is a monster, more or less deformed 
and out of due proportion. And this inconvenience is 



102 



EXTEMPORARY PREACHING. 



only obviated by that strong previous determination of 
the various parts of the discourse of which we have just 
spoken. If the extemporary preacher would avoid be- 
coming the author of one of the oratorical monsters 
described above, we repeat that he must trace the plan 
of his sermon with a firm and energetic hand, and he 
must arrange its various parts with such exactness and 
due proportion, that none of those unforeseen circum- 
stances which so frequently occur during the delivery 
of an extemporary discourse will be able to lead him so 
far away from the main point, and from the order 
which he has previously arranged, as to involve him in 
confusion, or cause him to develop any one point at the 
expense of the others.* 

AJbove and before all things else, a good plan will 
possess for its fundamental quality unity — a quality 
so essential, that without it the greater part of our 
preaching will be in vain. " Nothing," says Dr. 
Newman, " is so fatal to the effect of a sermon, as 
the habit of preaching on three or four subjects at once. 
I acknowledge," he continues, " I am advancing a step 
beyond the practice of great Catholic preachers, when I 
add, that even though we preach on only one at a time, 
finishing and dismissing the first before we go to the 



* Bautain. 



ESSENTIAL PROPERTIES OF A PLAN. 103 

second, and the second before we go to the third; still, 
after all, a practice like this, though not open to the 
inconvenience which confusing of one subject with 
another involves, is in matter of fact nothing short of 
the delivery of three sermons in succession, without 
break between them."* 

To secure, then, this fundamental quality, the young 
preacher must follow the advice of Dr. Newman, and 
other eminent writers, on this matter. He must place 
before himself a distinct categorical proposition, such 
as he can write down in a form of words, and guide and 
limit his preparation by it, and aim in all he says to 
bring out this, and nothing eke. 

In other words, there is unity in a discourse when 
everything in it tends to the establishment of some 
one, 'precise, and clearly defined proposition, which the 
preacher proposes to himself to impress so deeply upon 
the hearts of his hearers that they cannot possibly 
escape the practical conclusions which he will deduce 
from it— when all the proofs, examples, illustrations, 
etc,, which his sermon contains will, however varied 
they may be in themselves, have ultimate reference to 
the development of the one great leading idea which is 
embodied in the proposition of his discourse. 



* " University Education." 



104 



EXTEMPORARY PREACHING. 



A unity such, as this, at once simple and fruitful, 
comprises, as is evident, two things — unity of view, and 
unity of means. 

There must be unity of view in a discourse ; and this 
quality is secured when, no matter how circuitous the 
route may be, everything in the sermon tends to one 
common end, viz., the establishment of the one parent 
idea embodied in the proposition ; when every phrase 
in the sermon has some reference to this object ; when 
everything which is neither necessary nor useful for this 
purpose is carefully eliminated ; when, in fine, from this 
common end, as from a central point, we can embrace, 
in one glance of the eye, the whole sermon with all its 
ramifications. These ramifications may, of course, in- 
clude various points, or heads, or arguments, or what- 
ever you may wish to call them ; but it must be ever 
borne in mind that when we thus employ several points, 
we do so, not in order to prove two or three different 
truths, but as two or three different ways of proving 
one truth. Hence, it is always easy to tell whether the 
plan of our sermon possesses unity. Let us see whether 
it is reducible to a syllogism. We should probably 
act very foolishly did we attempt to announce our sub- 
ject to the audience under the syllogistic form, since 
such a mode of action would savour of intolerable ped- 
antry and formality ; but we ought generally to be able 



ESSENTIAL PROPERTIES OF A PLAN. 105 

to render an account of it to ourselves from this point 
of view. Suppose that we were preaching on the end 
of man, and that we took as the parent idea of our dis- 
course the sentiment, "That it should be the great 
object of every sensible man to secure his salvation," 
there would certainly be nothing unduly formal and 
pedantic in announcing our subject in the following 
shape, although it contains, as the logician will see at 
a glance, the germ of a perfect syllogism : — 

"All reasonable men labour most earnestly for that 
which is most worthy of their toil. Now, whether we 
consider (1) the views of God in creating, redeeming, 
and preserving man ; or (2) the actions, lives, and pen- 
ances of the saints ; or (3) the sentiments of different 
classes of men at the hour of their death ; we must 
necessarily admit that the securing of his salvation is 
the one great object most worthy of the attention of 
every reasonable man."* Let us, then, repeat, that 
unity of view imparts this remarkable and invaluable 
property to a discourse, viz., that it reduces it to one 
leading proposition, which is merely brought out into 
greater relief by the various ways in which it may be 
presented to an audience. Fenelon expresses the same 
idea when he says that the discourse is merely the de- 



* " Sacred Eloquence." Chap. 4, sec. 4. 3rd edition. 



106 EXTEMPORARY PREACHING. 

velopment of the proposition, whilst the proposition is 
nothing more than an abridgment of the discourse. 

Let us repeat, too, that although such a plan may 
appear stiff and formal on paper, it need not be so in 
the least degree when developed and reduced to prac- 
tice in the hands of an experienced orator ; whilst it 
is so necessary to success that, without it, a preacher 
will ordinarily produce little or no result. The mass of 
hearers are equally unable and unwilling to follow or 
pick up disconnected and disjointed ideas, which have 
no direct reference to some one great plain practical 
truth which is supposed to be before them, claiming 
their attention, enlisting their sympathies, and per- 
suading them to reformation of life and manners. His 
intelligence is very limited indeed who is not able to 
detect the wanderings of a preacher who speaks with- 
out order and logical sequence of ideas, and who says 
many things which have no direct bearing on the sub- 
ject in hand. However humble the hearer may be, he 
is, not rarely, quick to take offence when the preacher 
thus presumes upon his patience and intellectual capa- 
city. In such circumstances, looking, naturally enough, 
upon the speaker as a traveller who has either forgot- 
ten, or who knows not whither he is going, the hearer 
loses all interest in the discourse, and, of course, receives 
no benefit from it. And it is unnecessary to add that 
these inconveniences are increased a thousandfold 



I 

ESSENTIAL PROPERTIES OF A PLAN. 107 

when there is question of an intelligent and educated 
audience. 

Nor is it sufficient that what we say have some rela- 
tion to the general end of the discourse, or be compre- 
hended, in a degree more or less vague, within the 
unity of view. Quintilian asks what it is that consti- 
tutes a strong and vigorous body, and he answers, that 
it is the union and perfect agreement of all the mem- 
bers. " Displace but one member," says he, " and the 
beautiful body becomes a monster." It is just the 
same with a sermon. Its strength and its beauty arise, 
as we have already remarked more than once, not from 
disconnected and disunited members, no matter how 
elegant they may be in themselves, but from the inti- 
mate relation, and the perfect agreement, of one part to 
another and to the whole. The arrangement of a dis- 
course is perfect when each argument, and each leading 
idea, is so placed, with such strict order and coherence, 
that no one can be omitted without causing a fatal 
gap, without destroying, more or less completely, the 
vitality of the whole. When such order is wanting, 
the preacher frequently commences with that which 
should not have made its appearance until the middle 
of the discourse ; or, he ends where he ought to have 
begun. Therefore, a good plan does not merely secure 
unity of view, but it also secures unity of means. And 



108 



EXTEMPORARY PREACHING. 



there is unity of means in a discourse when all its 
parts, arguments, and illustrations, are so united, con- 
nected, and arranged, that the preacher continually 
advances on the same line of progressive conceptions ; 
when his sermon is one tissue of ideas and sentiments 
which succeed and follow each another. In a sermon of 
this kind everything is in its proper place. The edu- 
cated hearer follows such a preacher with delight and 
satisfaction — the humblest of his audience is able to 
penetrate his line of argument with ease. Each truth 
that is put forward, whilst preparing the way for some 
other truth which has equal need of its support, at once 
introduces and sustains it. Thus sustaining each other, 
they all unite in conducting the audience to the com- 
mon end in such a manner, and with such an intimate 
and close connection, that no one of these leading ideas 
can be omitted without injuring the order of the 
march — not one of them misplaced without weakening, 
at least in some degree, the force, and destroying the 
harmony, of the whole discourse. 

By a close, but, at the same time, easy and sensible ap- 
plication of these great principles, we shall secure for our 
discourse that unity, at once simple and fruitful, which 
St. Augustine declares to be the principle and form 
of everything that is living and beautiful. Omnis 
pulchritudinis forma unitas est 




CHAPTER XI. 

PROXIMATE PREPARATION OF THE SERMON — THE 
PREACHER AT WORK — HOW TO PARCEL OUT THE 
WEEK IN THE MOST USEFUL AND PRACTICAL MAN- 
NER — PLAN OF A SERMON. 

E have now conducted the young preacher to a 
very important stage of his preparation, viz., that 
in which he takes his pen in hand, and sketches out a 
clear, sharp, bold plan of the discourse which he pro- 
poses to deliver. 

If we suppose, as will, indeed, be generally the case, 
that he has only a week in which to prepare his dis- 
course, he should have arrived at this stage of his pre- 
paration not later than the Thursday previous to the 
Sunday on which he has to preach. It will be all the 
better if he can arrive thither on Wednesday, and there 
is no reason why he should not; for, although, no 
doubt, the amount of preparation through which we 
have conducted him looks formidable enough on paper, 




110 



EXTEMPORARY PREACHING. 



he will, at all events in a little time, find it simple and 
easy enough in practice. 

And, before we commence to parcel out his daily 
work in this direction for him, let us most earnestly 
and emphatically recommend the young preacher to 
begin to prepare his sermon as early as possible in the 
week. In ordinary circumstances, and, of course, mak- 
ing allowance for unforeseen contingencies, which will 
arise from time to time, to interfere with our most 
careful and precise arrangements, there are few men 
who would not be able to prepare their sermons 
properly, if they would only commence in time. But, 
unfortunately, this preparation is put off from day to 
day. Monday and Tuesday, the days on which the 
generality of priests have most leisure, are allowed 'to 
slip away unheeded. As likely as not, under the 
circumstances, Wednesday is as void of preparation as 
Monday and Tuesday. Thursday may bring sick-calls 
which we could not foresee, or occupations for which 
we were not prepared ; and, in any case, it is getting 
so late in the week that it is hardly worth while com- 
mencing now. At all events, if Thursday be passed, 
farewell to any preparation worthy of the name. Fri- 
day and Saturday are days in the life of most missionary 
priests which do not afford much leisure time for 
serious study, or for any other occupation than 



PREPARATION OF THE SERMON. Ill 



the discharge of the more active and laborious duties 
of the sacred ministry. In the arrangement, then, 
of his various duties, and most of all, perhaps, in 
the preparation of his sermon, let the young and 
zealous priest guard most carefully against the fatal 
habit of " putting off a habit which is the most 
deadly enemy of everything in the shape of order, 
regularity, and prudent discharge of priestly obliga- 
tions ; a habit which, if it be once indulged, grows 
upon a man so rapidly and imperceptibly as to over- 
throw his best resolutions and his most earnest desires, 
and at last establishes itself in his nature, with a 
firmness of hold, and a tyrannical grasp of power, that 
render him, if not positively impotent for good, at least 
the slave of those half resolves, those miserable vel- 
leities, which never produce any result worthy of a man 
or a priest. 

After these preliminary observations, we now pro- 
pose, with all deference and respect, to endeavour to 
show the young preacher how he is practically to apply 
the principles which we have laid down in the previous 
chapters of this essay, to the composition or preparation 
of his extemporary discourse. And this is the manner 
in which we recommend him to proceed : — 

Let him as early as possible on Monday select and 
fix upon the subject of his sermon for the ensuing Sun- 



112 



EXTEMPORARY PREACHING. 



day. He will, of course, be governed in this selection 
by the principles at which we have already glanced. 
He will take as the subject of his discourse either the 
Epistle or Gospel for the day, probably the latter : some 
virtue which he may find it especially incumbent upon 
him to inculcate at that time : or some vice which it 
may be necessary to denounce : or, he will be influenced 
and controlled in his selection by the recurrence of 
some great Festival of the Church, or the anniversary of 
some great saint. Let him reflect for a few moments 
on what we may call, the circumstances of the week, 
and then let him select, with one energetic, rapid de- 
termination of his will, the subject of his discourse, and 
let him stick to that Let him not spend half the 
morning in useless deliberations, changing his mind 
again and again, and perhaps eventually fixing upon 
no subject at all. It is better for him in the circum- 
stances to select his subject at once, and, although it 
may be less powerful in itself, to adhere to that, than 
to lose half, or the whole of his day, in selecting first 
one subject and then another, until, so to speak, 
he becomes bewildered. If a man have to preach 
on a great occasion, with ample time in which to 
prepare, he, no doubt, will do well not to fix upon 
his subject until he has devoted a few days to its 
general consideration. The missionary who must 



PREPARATION OF THE SERMON. 113 



preach every week, perhaps oftener, has not time for 
this. 

Having selected his subject, let him set to work to 
"read up" steadily on the matter, pencil in hand, 
according to the method which we have ventured to 
suggest, or any better and more suitable one which he 
may be able to discover for himself. And, again we 
presume to hint that, of all the da} r s in a priest's week, 
Monday is the best on which to "read up" for his 
sermon. Nor do we mean by this course of reading to 
deprive him of that fair share of rest and recreation 
which many clergymen are accustomed to allow them- 
selves, with great reason and sufficiency of cause, after 
the heavy labours of the preceding day. For, if a 
priest can lay his hand at once upon the book which he 
requires, this " reading up " for his sermon need not be 
a very formidable matter. To a man who has gone 
through a regular coarse of logical training, and to 
whom, in consequence, the habit of analysis, synopsis, 
and general condensation, and orderly arrangement of 
matter, should be a work of ease and facility ; to a man 
whose mind is habitually well stored with that exact 
and definite theological knowledge which every priest, 
by his very profession, is supposed to possess ; to a man 
who is supposed to be no less well made up in ascetical 

theology and the principles of the spiritual life, in so 

9 



114 EXTEMPORARY PREACHING. 

far, at least, as they are necessary for the proper dis- 
charge of the sacred duties of the confessional, and the 
direction of souls; to such a man, we assert, a very 
short time spent in revising his knowledge, or in 
gathering new ideas from the perusal of some good, 
solid work, ought to be amply sufficient for the object 
in view. It is difficult to imagine how one hour's 
steady reading, more especially after a little practice, 
will not suffice to furnish him with most abundant and 
solid materials for his Sunday's discourse. Surely there 
are few clergymen who cannot find one or two hours in 
the week to devote to a duty at once so useful, so im- 
portant, so holy, and so obligatory. And, yet, we are 
grievously tempted to add that there are at least some 
sermons delivered, let us hope not many, which would 
have appeared in a very different guise, and with a 
vastly more pleasing face, if their authors had devoted 
even one short hour to the serious preparation of them. 

Having given Monday to " reading-up," let the 
preacher devote Tuesday to the " meditation and con- 
ception " of his subject. This is a matter which need 
cost him but very little trouble. As he goes about his 
ordinary business, visiting his sick, or taking his walk, 
let him, now and again during the day, turn the subject 
of his sermon, and the matter of his reading on the 
previous day, quietly over in his mind. Let him 



PREPARATION OF THE SERMON. 



115 



meditate it in accordance with the principles already- 
laid down. Above, and before all, let him strive to 
grasp that one parent idea, which is to give unity, 
efficacy, and life to his discourse. Let him grasp 
clearly the one thing which he is going to say; the 
one thing upon which he intends to insist; the one 
thing which he proposes to himself to drive home to 
the hearts and consciences of his hearers. Let him 
grasp this one great parent idea with all his might and 
main ; let him fix it so deeply in his mind that nothing 
may be able to disturb it, or weaken the hold that it 
has taken of him. Let " What he is going to say,'* 
and, " How he is going to say it," stand out clearly, 
sharply, distinctly, and readily, before his mind's eye, 
and all the rest will be as nothing. When he has 
arrived at this point, he may almost venture to say that 
his sermon is ready, that his preparation is virtually 
finished. It will surely not be very difficult to arrive 
at this point. The difficulty would seem to be, how an 
educated man can possibly spend an hour or two in 
reading and meditating any subject, certainly any pro- 
fessional subject, with a view to addressing his fellow 
men upon it, without arriving at some clear, definite, 
and practical conclusions on the matter. It would seem 
almost impossible to conceive an educated and in- 
tellectual man bringing the powers of his mind to bear 



116 



EXTEMPORARY PREACHING. 



upon a subject, at once so sacred, so practical, and so 
full of sympathy, as a sermon, without deriving from 
the consideration of it, at least one great idea, one idea 
which will be no less fruitful in its results than in its 
conception. Still, whatever may be said on this point, 
it is quite certain that to the man who thus really 
meditates his subject, and who, through this medita- 
tion of it, thus conceives it, the next stage in his 
formal preparation will follow almost as a matter of 
course, and one in which he will experience neither 
annoyance nor disappointment. 

Having devoted Monday to reading-up, and Tuesday 
to the meditation and conception of his subject, let the 
preacher now proceed confidently to this next step in 
his preparation. With the materials which he has pre- 
pared, ready to his hand — with the leading idea of his 
discourse vividly present to his mind— let him, on 
Wednesday, if possible, but certainly not later than 
Thursday, take his pen, and on half a sheet, or a sheet 
of paper, sketch out a bold, vigorous, and practical plan 
of the sermon which he proposes to deliver. Never 
losing sight of the essential idea of a plan, that it is the 
"utilis distributio," "the order of the things to be un- 
folded," he will, with a few vigorous strokes of his pen, 
arrange the materials of his discourse, put everything 
into its proper place, group his various arguments, 



PREPARATION OF THE SERMON. 117 



illustrations, etc., around their parent idea, and having 
done this, he will find, ready to his hand, a skeleton so 
plastic, so symmetrical, so instinct with the principles 
of energy and life, that he will experience little or no 
difficulty, when the proper moment shall have arrived, 
in clothing these dry bones with the flesh and blood of 
living words. 

In the composition of his plan he will probably pro* 
ceed in some such way as this. First, he will write 
down the text of Scripture most appropriate to head 
his sermon. Then, will follow, clearly, sharply, and 
distinctly expressed in a few words, the leading idea 
of his discourse, that idea which will presently be 
embodied in the proposition. Next, from a general view 
of the whole discourse which he proposes to deliver, 
and the method of its treatment, he will obtain the 
idea of his introduction or exordium, and this he 
will put down in a few terse words. The exordium or 
introduction naturally conducts him to the proposition 
of his discourse, and this he will write out as clearly 
and distinctly as possible, not indeed with a view of 
unfolding it to his audience in the same precise formal 
manner in which he may have drawn it up, but for his 
own guidance and direction. This proposition will 
include and embody the leading idea of his sermon, 
together with the members of his division, or the parts 



118 



EXTEMPORARY PREACHING. 



of his discourse. Whilst it avoids undue formality and 
pedantic stiffness, the proposition will, nevertheless, be 
expressed, both in the discourse itself, and a fortiori 
in the plan, as briefly as possible ; and, in every really 
orderly sermon, it will, as a general rule, directly or 
indirectly, be reducible to a syllogism, although we 
repeat that it will not, and ought not, be so expressed. 
Having thus written out the proposition of his discourse, 
be will next arrange the members of his division, the 
first, second, or third points, as they are usually called ; 
only let him bear in mind that it is not necessary that a 
sermon should have more than one point. But if, as is 
usually the case, the sermon contains several points or 
members, he will arrange each one in its own proper place, 
with its own peculiar arguments and oratorical develop- 
ments, illustrations, etc., briefly and dearly sketched out; 
so that each one may present itself to his mind's eye, 
during the delivery of the discourse, at the very moment 
when he requires it. Finally, from a general view 
of the whole discourse, he will consider, and briefly 
note down, those sentiments, powerful emotions, and 
generous resolutions, with which he will seek to move 
the hearts of his hearers at the close of his sermon. In 
other words, he will obtain the matter of his peroration 
or conclusion. 

Such, briefly, is some idea of the method which, positis 
ponendis, making all allowances for individual tastes, 



PREPARATION OF THE SERMON. 119 



most preachers will follow in sketching the plan of 
a discourse. One man may, of course, develop it at 
greater length than another — one man may content 
himself with the merest skeleton, whilst another will 
fill in the details of his sketch with considerable 
fulness ; but, however much a man may follow the bent 
of his own taste, and he will wisely do so in some 
matters, the broad leading features of the plan will 
probably be substantially the same in most, if not in 
all cases. 

For the further elucidation of this important matter, 
and to assist the young preacher in reducing principles 
to practice, we subjoin the plan or skeleton of a 
sermon on mortal sin. 

Plan of a Sermon on Mortal Sin. 

Text. — Delicta quis intelligit ? — Ps. xviii. 13. 

Leading Idea. — There is only one real evil in the 
world, the evil of mortal sin; but inasmuch as this 
is an evil of infinite enormity, we are bound to 
avoid it by every consideration which can appeal 
to the heart of man. 

Introduction. — If there be only one real evil in the 
world, but if that evil be one of infinite malice and 
enormity — the source of all other evils — and if the 
name of this sovereign evil be mortal sin — we 



120 



EXTEMPORARY PREACHING. 



should, if we were really Christian men, be seized 
with horror and confusion to think that we had 
dared thus to offend God. 

If we could but conceive a true idea of the 
nature of sin — we should, instead of drinking in 
sin like water, be penetrated with the greatest 
horror of it — Ps. xviii. 13. Instead of spend- 
ing our lives in thoughtless folly — Jerem., xii. 11 — 
we should meditate upon the law of God day and 
night — Ps. i. 

We should be astonished that all creatures do 
not rise up to avenge the insult offered by sin to 
God, the Creator and Sovereign Lord of all. 

Proposition. — Let us then conceive the greatest horror 
of sin— let us persuade ourselves that whether we 
view it (1) as an offence of God, or (2) as the 
greatest injury which we can do to ourselves, or 
(3) as the most egregious folly of which we can be 
guilty, it is the one real evil of the world, and 
the one, therefore, which every sensible man will 
do his utmost to avoid. 

First Point. — Mortal sin is the deepest and most 
deadly insult which a creature can offer to his 
creator. " Delicta quis intelligit V* To realize its 
enormity we must consider the quality of the 
person offended, of the person offending, and the 



PREPARATION OF THE SERMON. 



121 



vileness or worthlessness of the object on account 
of which it is offered. By these circumstances the 
morality of the action must be measured. 

The person to whom the insult is offered is God, 
the infinite wisdom and perfection, the sovereign 
ruler and master of the world : " Quis sicut Deus ?" 

He by whom the insult is offered ; he who says 
K Non serviam," Jerem., ii. 20 ; he who rejects his 
lawful sovereign and master, " Nolumus hunc reg- 
nare super nos," Luc, xix. 14 ; is a mere worm of 
the earth, depending upon God for the very breath 
of his life. " Nihilum armatum et rebelle" — St. 
Amb. 

The object for which he thus outrages God is 
worthless — a mere nothing — a momentary gratifi- 
cation, not unfrequently disgusting in its very 
nature : " Oderunt me gratis " — Ps. xxxiv. 

Sin, therefore, in one sense, is of infinite malice; 
it outrages the infinite majesty of God. Hence St. 
Thomas maintains that the wisdom of God, all 
infinite as it is, could not invent a punishment 
adequate to the enormity of mortal sin : " Delicta 
quis intelligit?" 
Second Point. — The commission of mortal sin is the 
greatest injury which we can do ourselves. 

It reduces us to a state of absolute and terrible 



122 



EXTEMPORARY PREACHING. 



spiritual indigence : " Egressus est a filia Sion 
omnis decor ejus" — Thren., i. 16. 

It deprives us of sanctifying grace — robs us of 
our hopes of Paradise — causes us to forfeit all the 
merits which we may previously have acquired — 
renders even our best actions fruitless " in ordine 
ad meritum supernaturale." " Nescis quia tu es mi- 
ser" — Apoc., xiii. 17. It renders us the victims of 
undying and ceaseless remorse of conscience. It 
exposes us daily and hourly to the terrible risk of 
an unprovided death, and consequently to eternal 
damnation. " Stulte hac nocte animam tuam re- 
petunt a te" — Luc, xx. 
Third Point. — Mortal sin is the greatest folly of which 
we can be guilty : " Furor illius sicut . . aspidis 
obturantis aures suas" — Ps. v. 

By the habit of sin the heart is hardened. God 
seeing his choicest graces despised or abused 
gradually withdraws, and leaves the sinner to 
himself — "Derelinquamus earn" — Jer. li. It leads 
to despair — "Desperantes seipsos tradiderunt in 
operationem immunditiae omnis" — Eph. iv. Each 
succeeding sin renders the sinner more and more 
helpless, bad habits acquire a firmer hold, and a 
greater mastery over him, tillatlength he falls into — 
Final Impenitence He dies as he lived — his last 



PREPARATION OF THE SERMON. 



123 



act upon earth is a new outrage against God — the 
assistance of the priest, the sacraments of the 
Church, are equally fruitless to rescue him from 
the terrible state of reprobation into "which God 
has allowed him to fall, in punishment of his 
prevarications. He dies, and is buried in hell — 
" Iniquitates suge capiunt impium" — Ps., v. 22. 
And all this is the fruit of sin. What folly ! 
What blindness ! What utter madness ! Who shall 
measure it ? — " Delicta quis intelligit " ? 
Conclusion. — If such be the dreadful results of mortal 
sin, shall we not, if we be wise, examine most 
seriously the state of oar conscience on this point ? 
If our conscience bear witness against us, shall we 
not resolve to emancipate ourselves at once from 
this dreadful thraldom ? Shall we not have im- 
mediate recourse to the Sacrament of Penance ? 
Shall we not resolve henceforward to look upon 
mortal sin as the greatest evil in the world, and, 
as a necessary consequence, do our utmost to avoid 
it ? Act of Contrition, or Fervent Prayer to Jesus 
Christ. 

In some such manner as this will the preacher sketch 
out the skeleton or plan of his discourse. The above 
plan is probably more elaborate and lengthy than would 
be required, or would even be useful for an ordinary 
instruction. Simple as it may read, the preacher 



124 



EXTEMPORARY PREACHING. 



would most likely find that it would take him a very 
considerable time to develop, and put into his own 
words, the ideas thrown out in this plan. Perhaps, he 
might find that it would be quite as much as he could 
do to develop any one point of this plan in twenty or 
twenty-five minutes ; and if he be wise, he will not, on 
ordinary occasions, attempt to pass this limit. And, 
although we do not by any means presume to propose 
this plan to him as a perfect, or nearly perfect model, 
we venture to think that there is no idea in it which is 
not practical, which will not admit of solid amplification, 
and of much fruitful application, and solid instruction. 
He will see that it contains no writing, and no flights 
of rhetoric; that it merely presents him with substantial 
ideas, the clothing and rhetorical filling-in of which is left 
to each individual's taste and style. He will see that 
it is a mere skeleton, but a skeleton which can be easily 
clad in living flesh and blood ; and he will see, too, that 
it possesses the quality of unity, since every idea it con- 
tains tends, more or less directly, to the development 
and establishment "of the great parent idea of the whole, 
the infinite enormity and evil of mortal sin. 

The preacher having thus prepared his plan, and 
having arrived at this point, let us say on Wednesday 
or Thursday, all that now remains is to get this plan 
firmly fixed in the mind. During the remaining days 



PEEPAEATION OF THE SEEMON. 



125 



of the week, therefore, let him, for this purpose, review 
his plan from time to time. Let him endeavour to 
realize and conceive, in the clearest and most precise 
manner, the connexion and bearing of the entire dis- 
course, of its various parts with one another and with 
the whole. In other words, let him strive to write in 
his mind the plan which he has already written on 
paper, and this with such clearness and precision, that, 
at the time of delivery, each idea may present itself at 
the very moment it is needed. If he "possess" his 
plan perfectly, he will grasp it, whole and entire, in 
one vigorous mental glance, and, thus possessing it, he 
will be able to bring each part into play in the most 
effectual manner. He will never for a moment lose 
sight of the great parent idea, the vivifying principle 
of life and strength in the discourse. He will be able 
to bring each argument and illustration to bear with 
the most striking and conclusive results. He will never 
falter or break down. Order, the pervading principle 
of his plan, will be equally the pervading principle of 
the realization of that plan. Each member of his divi- 
sion, and each leading idea, argument, or illustration 
contained in that member, will present itself to his 
mind's eye promptly and readily at the moment of 
delivery, in all due order and regular progression, to be 
clothed in those strong, earnest, or pathetic words, 



126 



EXTEMPORARY PREACHING. 



which most surely will not fail him who has thus care- 
fully prepared himself to speak with glory to God, with 
advantage to his neighbour, and with credit to himself. 

If the plan be sketched sufficiently early in the week ; 
if it be clear, precise, and, above all, not too long or 
elaborate ; it cannot possibly give the preacher much 
trouble or difficulty thus to fix and engrave it on his 
mind. 



CHAPTER XII. 



THE PREACHER IN THE PULPIT — REALIZATION OF HIS 
PLAN — HOW TO INTRODUCE HIS SUBJECT — THE PRAC- 
TICE OF EMPLOYING A WRITTEN EXORDIUM AND 
OTHER CHOICE MORSELS OF ELOQUENCE IN AN EX- 
TEMPORARY DISCOURSE. 

E have already conducted the preacher through 
the various stages involved in the preparation 
of his discourse. Let us now accompany him into the 
pulpit to witness the realization of his plan — the per- 
fecting of those conceptions which are, as yet, in one 
sense, barren and dead — those conceptions which are 
to be rendered living and potent by the words in which 
he is about to clothe and present them to his hearers. 

We will suppose the supreme and culminating point 
of his preparation to have arrived. In a few moments 
more he will be face to face with his audience, strong 
in the feeling that he is moulding and welding them to 
his will, or wretched in the conviction that his words 
are falling upon an unfruitful soil, that he is merely 




128 



EXTEMPORARY PREACHING. 



beating the air to no purpose, that he has failed to 
secure the attention, or to enlist the sympathies, of 
those who must perforce listen to what he says, but 
who show by their gestures and their bearing how 
unwillingly they do so. 

It is an important, a decisive moment, one which 
may well inspire even the most finished orator with 
fear and trembling. Let, then, the preacher once more 
collect himself for a few moments, that thus he may 
concentrate all the energies of his mind and body on 
the task before him. Let him summon to his aid the 
undivided powers of his intellect and imagination ; let 
him fix them once again upon the end to be gained, 
upon the plan to be realized, and the manner in which 
it is to be realized ; and thus holding, so to speak, his 
soul in his hand, let him enter the pulpit with a bound- 
less confidence in God, with a calm, cheerful, and modest 
reliance on himself, with an earnest, honest determina- 
tion to do his best, and with no misgivings as to the 
result. 

The sermon in its realization will be broadly com- 
prised in three great leading parts : the introduction, 
the body of the discourse, and the conclusion. 

Let the student refresh his memory as to the object 
and nature of an exordium or introduction, and the 
means it employs to gain its end. He will remember 



THE PREACHER IN THE PULPIT. 129 

that the exordium is merely a becoming introduc- 
tion of the subject, having for one of its princi- 
pal objects to dispose our hearers to receive favourably 
that which we are about to say, with a view, of course, 
to their ultimate conviction and persuasion. Reddere 
auditores benevolos, attentos et dociles. He will re- 
member, too, that, as this threefold end is attained in 
various ways, and by different means, according to the 
nature of the subject, and the dispositions of his hearers, 
there are different kinds of exordiums, each one pos- 
sessing its own peculiar qualities, and governed by its 
own peculiar rules. 

It cannot be doubted that there are occasions on 
which the exordium ex abrupto will be very telling, and 
should be employed. Again, a man may open his 
sermon in a very effective manner by laying down 
some striking proposition, or by advancing some 
startling paradox, which will at once arrest and enchain 
the attention of the hearers. 

But, in ordinary circumstances, the exordium of the 

extemporary discourse is one of the simplest things 

imaginable, since it merely aspires to introduce the 

subject in the plainest possible manner, giving us a 

glimpse of the great broad ideas which are to dominate 

the discourse, and the order of the arrangement which 

is to be laid down and followed. Still, even in this 

10 



130 



EXTEMPORARY PREACHING. 



case, the introduction is not without difficulties peculiar 
to itself, and occasionally of sufficiently distressing a 
nature. 

When a man has written his exordium, and com- 
mitted it to memory, he comes forward with a great 
deal of confidence, and, notwithstanding the inevitable 
distractions which attend the first few T moments of his 
appearance in the pulpit, his introductory remarks will 
always be finished and complete, and not unfrequently 
they will form the most brilliant part of his discourse. 

But it is vastly otherwise with him who extemporises. 
Oppressed by the emotions which are inseparable from 
the circumstances in which he finds himself placed; 
carrying all his ideas in his brain, and trusting, as he 
does, to the inspiration of the moment for the words in 
which to express them ; it is no wonder if he is weak, 
even somewhat obscure, in the beginning. He probably 
finds a difficulty in speaking at all ; what wonder, then, 
if he finds it still more difficult to speak to the point ? 
Unless he have previously fixed upon a few, simple, 
clearly defined words with which to commence, he will 
perhaps hesitate, even if he does not stammer and 
grow confused, during the first moments of his dis- 
course. And, so vividly do they realize this difficulty 
of making a good start, that some preachers, who con- 
tent themselves with merely preparing a skeleton or 



THE PREACHER IN THE PULPIT. 



131 



plan of the rest of their discourse, carefully write their 
exordium, and commit it to memory. But, great as 
the difficulty of starting well may be, this remedy is 
one which we can scarcely recommend, although we do 
not pretend to assert that those who are able to avail 
themselves of it with success, if such there be, should 
not do so. 

It seems to us that the man who has not such com- 
mand of himself and his faculties, and such a supply of 
words, as to be able to utter the few sentences which 
will serve to introduce his subject, will hardly be able 
to preach extempore at all. Were such a man to write 
his exordium, and commit it carefully to memory, it 
seems to us that there must necessarily be such a 
glaring discrepancy between this portion of his dis- 
course, smooth, glib, and fluent, and that which will 
follow, rough, hesitating, arid confused, as must be in- 
finitely embarrassing to the preacher himself, whilst it 
will be painfully apparent to his hearers. The Abbe 
Bautain remarks that the true orator does not employ 
this process, and hardly finds it answer when he has 
recourse to it; since, in these circumstances, he generally 
entangles himself, gets confused, and fares worse than if 
he had spoken extempore. The man who is able to 
preach, perhaps fluently, from a skeleton, will surely 
be able to utter the few sentences that will serve to 



1S2 



EXTEMPORARY PREACHING. 



introduce his discourse. The very difficulty of com- 
mencing, and the innate consciousness which he has of 
this difficulty, will give an air of modesty to his bearing 
as he enters the pulpit, and a gentle, subdued, and 
Christian character, as well to his voice as to his whole 
manner, which constitute some of the leading qualities 
of a good exordium, and which will do more to propitiate 
his audience favourably towards him than the delivery of 
an introduction whose glibness and self-possession will 
not be warranted and maintained by the rest of the 
discourse. Those morsels of eloquence, and those choice 
bits which are carefully prepared and blended here and 
there with what is purely extemporary, in order to give 
brilliancy and additional effect to the discourse, will 
generally prove embarrassing rather than really useful 
to him who can speak any way fluently and well ; whilst 
to the man of inferior attainments, and of more humble 
aspirations, they will be positively injurious, since they 
will impart a style and character to his introduction 
that will not be sustained by the remainder of the dis- 
course, which, instead of continually advancing in 
vigour and strength, according to the golden rule of 
Cicero, Ut augeatur semper et increscat oratio, will 
gradually grow weaker and more feeble. 

It will, then, be much better for the preacher to have 
confidence in himself, and to open his discourse with a 



THE PREACHER IN THE PULPIT. 133 



few simple words, which he can scarcely find much diffi- 
culty in framing. Let him have the great leading idea 
of his discourse clearly and vividly present to his mind, 
and he will easily find the words, plain, simple, and 
earnestj with which to lead the way to its enunciation. 
It is quite possible that these words, as well as the voice 
in which they are uttered, may be somewhat weak and 
faltering in the opening, but let him persevere, strong in 
the conscious rectitude of his intention, and his trust in 
God, and in a moment all will be changed. He will 
scarcely have pronounced a couple of sentences before 
his confusion will have vanished, and he will stand, a 
man, face to face with his subject, its master and 
its ruler. Thus face to face with his subject, grap- 
pling the great idea which, with all the enthusiasm of 
the true orator, he burns to manifest and bring 
home to the hearts and minds of the multitude whose 
eyes are fixed in rapt attention full upon him, he at 
once feels within his heart the ardent glow of earnest- 
ness, of enthusiasm, of inspiration. The light which 
illumines his soul will show itself in his eyes, in every 
feature of his face, and will lend its character and in- 
fluence to the very tones of his voice. In a word, he 
will realize in all its fulness the great and consoling 
idea that he is master of the situation. Strengthened by 
the consciousness that he is thoroughly prepared, and 



134 



EXTEMPORARY PREACHING- 



that the materials of his discourse, plain, clear, orderly, 
and well-defined, are ready at hand, and cannot possibly 
fail him, he will launch into his sermon with a confi- 
dence which will grow stronger as he proceeds, and 
with a success which will receive its consummation and 
its crown only when the last word of his discourse shall 
have been uttered. 

The young preacher, then, will commence his sermon 
in a calm, quiet voice, and with, as far at least as this 
may be, unruffled self-possession. He will commence 
in a calm, quiet tone of voice, for he will remember that 
he has yet a long way to go, and that if he is to arrive 
at the end of his journey with sufficient energy remain- 
ing to him to throw that fire and spirit into his perora- 
tion without which it cannot succeed, he must carefully 
husband his resources in the beginning of his discourse. 
Young and inexperienced speakers not unfrequently 
commence on their very highest note, and with all the 
fire and energy which they can command. The conse- 
quence is, that they become utterly exhausted before 
the discourse is half over; they gasp for breath, and 
cling to the pulpit for support ; and those concluding 
sentences which should have rung with thrilling force 
and effect through the church, which should have 
awakened the unconcerned, and animated the ardent 
with the highest and most holy resolves, are often 



THE PREACHER IN THE PULPIT. 135 

expressed in tones so low, so feeble, and so utterly spirit- 
less, as to fall vapid, cold, and dead upon the ears of an 
unconcerned and unsympathetic audience. But, if he 
begin calmly and quietly, not elevating his voice above 
the emphatic and distinct conversational tone, he will 
be able, as he proceeds, to let himself out, to adapt 
himself to the requirements of his subject and his 
audience. He will thus escape that unpleasant preju- 
dice which is nearly always excited against a speaker 
who commences by getting into a passion without any 
conceivable reason, and at the same time reserve to 
himself sufficient energy and strength to conclude with 
earnest warmth and due effect. 

The exordium of the ordinary Sunday discourse will, 
as a general rule, be nothing more than a brief, simple, 
and modest explanation of the Gospel or Epistle for the 
day, with a glance at the precise lesson or instruction 
to be derived from it. This explanation can scarcely, 
positis poriendis, be too brief, whilst in all ordinary 
circumstances it can most assuredly never be too simple. 
There is no room here for laboured figures of speech, 
for cumbersome oratorical display, for crafty self-seek- 
ing, which is only half hidden under a flimsy veil of 
mock humility, and of transparent and palpable self- 
consciousness. There is no room here for elaborated 
details, for ponderous arguments, or for intricate and 



136 



EXTEMPORARY PREACHING. 



far-fetched comparisons. The only object at present 
before the speaker is, to lay down in the most simple 
and practical manner the subject or theme of the dis- 
course ; to shadow forth, without entering into or anti- 
cipating any material part of that discourse, the main 
features, and the broad general outline of the whole ; 
that thus, whilst rendering his hearers attentive, docile, 
and well disposed towards him, he may gradually lead 
the way to the enunciation of the proposition, or back- 
bone of his sermon, that back-bone which is to impart 
strength, vigour, and consistency to all that is to fol- 
low. 

At the very outside, the introduction will not occupy 
more than an eighth of the whole discourse; frequently 
it will not occupy so large a space. And if this be its due 
proportion to the rest of the sermon, and if the nature 
of the introduction be such as we have described it 
above, does it not follow pretty plainly that those 
extemporary preachers who write their exordiums in 
order to make a good start, are nearly certain to violate 
these essential conditions ? As a matter of fact, are 
not such introductions nearly always as much too long 
as they are too elaborate and superior in style and 
composition to the remainder of the discourse ? Do not 
such discourses, lacking as they do due order and 
strict subordination of the parts to each other and to 



THE PREACHER IN THE PULPIT. 



137 



the whole, form those monsters of composition of which 
we spoke a little while ago ? Are they not all head, 
and no body to speak of % Do we not find the exordium 
occupy the place of the peroration ; and whilst we gaze 
with astonishment at the portentous proportions of the 
head, do we not look in vain for that body which it is 
supposed to vivify and grace, but which, on the con- 
trary, it dwarfs, deforms, perhaps destroys 1 Most un- 
doubtedly it is so in many cases ; and hence, without 
presuming to lay down dogmatic and inflexible rules, 
which are to bind all men in all times and all circum- 
stances, we can neither approve the practice of those 
extemporary preachers who write their introduction 
and other choice " bits " of their discourse, nor recom- 
mend it to the student for his adoption. 

See with what beautiful simplicity, with what per- 
fect orde^ with what clearness and precision, a great 
preacher like Dr. Newman introduces his subject ! 
Let us examine the introduction of that eloquent 
writer's magnificent sermon on " The Neglect of Divine 
Calls and Warnings/' and as we note the seemingly un^ 
studied clearness and perspicuity with which he leads 
up to the enunciation of the parent idea of his discourse, 
viz., that those who think to live in sin and die in 
grace are guilty of a most terrible and fatal self-delu^ 
sion, we perceive so little sign of art, of study, or of care- 



138 



EXTEMPORARY PREACHING. 



ful preparation in its composition, that we immediately 
conclude we could do as well ourselves ; and it is only- 
after we have made the attempt that we discover how 
close a relation, and how intimate a connection, there 
exists between the most perfect simplicity of style and 
the most finished eloquence of composition. 

In studying the introduction which we here propose 
to his consideration, let the reader mark, in the first 
place, how simply and with what order Dr. Newman 
disposes of the preliminary ideas and notions which so 
naturally present themselves : — 

" No one sins," he begins, " without making some ex- 
cuse to himself for sinning. He is obliged to do so : 
man is not like the brute beasts ; he has a divine gift 
within him which we call reason, and which constrains 
him to give an account to it for what he does. He 
cannot act at random ; however he acts, he must act 
by some kind of rule, on some sort of principle, else he 
is vexed and dissatisfied with himself. Not that he is 
very particular whether he finds a good reason or a bad, 
when he is very much straitened for a reason, but a 
reason of some sort he must have. Hence you some- 
times find that those who give up religions duty, attack 
the conduct of religious men, whether their acquaint- 
ance, or the ministers or professors of religion, as a sort 



THE PKEACHER IN THE PULPIT. 



139 



of excuse — a very bad one — -for their neglect. Others, 
and Catholics too, will make the excuse that they are so 
far from church, or so closely occupied at home, whether 
they will or not, that they cannot serve God as they 
ought. Others say that it is no use trying, that they 
have again and again gone to confession, and tried to 
keep out of mortal sin, and cannot ; and so they give up 
the attempt as hopeless. Others, who are not Catholics, 
when they fall into sin, excuse themselves on the plea 
that they are but following nature ; that the impulses 
of nature are so very strong, and that it cannot be 
wrong to follow that nature which God has given us. 
Others are bolder still, and cast off religion altogether ; 
they deny its truth ; they deny Church, Gospel, and 
Bible ; they go so far perhaps as even to deny God's 
governance of His creatures. They boldly deny that 
there is any life after death : and, this being the case, 
of course they would be fools indeed not to take their 
pleasure here, and to make as much of this poor life as 
they can." 

Having thus disposed of the various classes with whom 
he does not intend to deal on this occasion, let the reader 
mark, in the next place, the skill and clearness with 
which the great orator introduces the subject of his 
discourse: — 



140 



EXTEMPORARY PREACHING. 



" And there are others," he continues, "and to these 
I am going to address myself, who try to speak peace to 
themselves by cherishing the thought, that something 
or other will happen after all to keep them from eternal 
ruinj though they now continue in their neglect of God ; 
that it is a long time yet to death; that there are many 
chances in their favour; that they shall repent in 
process of time, when they get old, as a matter of course • 
that they mean to repent some day ; that they mean, 
sooner or later, seriously to take their state into 
account; and to make their ground good ; and, if they 
are Catholics, they add, that at least they will die with 
the last sacraments, and that therefore they need not 
trouble themselves about the matter." 

Not less worthy of attention are the introductions to 
the same writer's sermons on Purity and Love, God's 
Will the End of Life, Nature and Grace, etc., etc.* 

Having introduced and sufficiently explained the 
general bearings of his subject by means of his introduc- 
tion, the preacher passes, by a natural transition, to the 
proposition or theine of his discourse. This proposition, 
as we well know, may be expressed in a manner more 
or less formal, as circumstances may require, or individual 

* Discourses Addressed to Mixed Congregations. 



THE PREACHER IN THE PULPIT. 141 

tastes may suggest. One man will say, in the driest, 
plainest way: "Mortal sin is the greatest evil of the 
world, and therefore we are bound to avoid it by every 
means in our power ;" whilst another will introduce pre- 
cisely the same substantial truth in a more roundabout 
and less pedantic manner. But, whatever method the 
preacher may employ in its enunciation, and, if he be 
wise, he will avoid all excess of stiffness and pedantry, 
the proposition of the discourse, flowing as a natural 
consequence from what has preceded, will be expressed 
in a few, sharp, pointed, and well-chosen words, will be 
plain, clear, and precise, stating the subject, the whole 
subject, and nothing but the subject. 

The preacher has now fairly entered, or, to speak 
more correctly, he must be supposed to have entered, 
upon his subject, and now his difficulties really begin. 

We need scarcely say that it is one thing to be able 
to sketch the plan of one's discourse, and another, and a 
very different thing, to be able to realise that plan and 
reduce it to practice. And it is in this realization, and 
this power of reducing our plan to practice, that the 
great difficulty of good extempore preaching consists. 
Many a man ascends the pulpit with the subject about 
which he is to speak clearly present to his mind : the 
plan of his discourse has been carefully sketched, and is 
in his pocket, or, perhaps, on the ledge of the pulpit 



142 



EXTEMPORARY PREACHING. 



before his eyes ; and be cannot, do what he may, con- 
trive to enter on this subject. It is plainly and clearly 
in sight, and, yet, he cannot manage to lay his hand 
upon it ; he cannot grasp it in a few strong, vigorous 
words, and thus present it, living, breathing, and 
existent, to his audience. Hence, he continues, as 
people say, to beat about the bush, without ever settiug 
his foot within it; he repeats the ideas of his introduc- 
tion until his audience are tired of hearing them ; and 
still, no matter how often he may repeat them, they 
never serve to lead him practically into the theme or 
body of his discourse. He contrives to obtain many 
glimpses of the promised land, but he never succeeds in 
entering it ; or, if he does eventually enter, it is after so 
much weary journeying through the wilderness, that he 
is himself utterly unable to enjoy its beautiful fertility, 
or to render its treasures fruitful to the multitude 
whom he has undertaken to lead into the chosen spot. 
Horace tells us that the man who has made a good 
beginning has half done his work : Qui bene ccepitfacti* 
dimidium habet : but the poet does not tell us so 
clearly how a man is to make this good beginning. As 
it is in this precisely that the difficulty consists, it will 



* " Dimidium facti, qui coepit, habet." — Lib. i. Ep. ii. Ad 
Sol. 



THE PREACHER IN THE PULPIT. 



143 



be worth our while to consider this matter at some little 
length. 

The difficulties which beset the young preacher at 
this point, and interfere, more or less completely, with 
the realization of his plan, may be broadly reduced to 
two :— 

I. The difficulty of seizing his subject. 

II. The difficulty of seizing his audience. 





CHAPTER XIII. 

HOW TO SEIZE THE SUBJECT— DIFFICULTY OF LAYING 
DOWN GENERAL RULES — THE ADVANTAGES OF A CLEAR 
DIVISION IN ENABLING A PREACHER TO SEIZE HIS 
SUBJECT — THE QUALITIES OF A GOOD DIVISION DE- 
DUCED FROM A CONSIDERATION OF THE OFFICE AND 
DIGNITY OF THE PREACHER. 

HE great difficulty in the preacher's way at this 
point of his discourse is to seize his subject, and we 
have already seen to some extent what is meant by this. 
The preacher, we will suppose, has delivered his intro- 
duction ; he has announced the proposition or theme of 
his sermon ; he has arrived at the body of his dis- 
course, and he does not know how to enter upon it ; he 
cannot seize his subject and reduce it to order, give life 
to its parts, and vigorous action to the whole. Here is 
the first great startling difficulty in his way, and the 
question to be considered is, how this difficulty may be 
met and conquered in the easiest, the most practical, 
and the most effective manner. 



i 



HOW TO SEIZE THE SUBJECT. 145 

You will answer that his plan is before him, and that, 
as is obvious, he must seize his subject through the 
realization of his plan. This is quite true, but still the 
difficulty recurs, since his plan merely comprises lead- 
ing ideas, and the question is, how these very ideas 
themselves are to be realized, how they are to be veri- 
fied, how the principle of life is to be infused into them, 
how they are to be ushered into existence, clad in the 
garb of strong, vigorous, spoken words. 

It is impossible to lay down any general rule 

which may apply to every case alike. Perhaps it is 

impossible to lay down any very strict rule on this 

matter at all. Much must be left to individual capacity 

and fertility of resource, to circumstances of time, place, 

and person. But we may safely lay down as a most 

practical and sound precept on this subject, that the 

extemporary preacher must carefully foresee and provide 

for this state of affairs, for what we may call this crisis 

in his discourse. He must foresee that moment in his 

discourse, when, having disposed of his introduction, 

and having laid the theme or proposition of his sermon 

clearly before his audience, he must pass on at once to 

its consideration, and to the development of those 

arguments, illustrations, etc., by which it is to be still 

further explained, maintained, and enforced. Before 

entering the pulpit, he must — at all events until he 

11 



146 



EXTEMPORARY PREACHING. 



acquire great readiness, confidence, and facility — fore- 
see, not only the manner in which he is thus to seize 
his subject, but, to some extent, the very words by 
which he will do so. If he can only gain this point, if 
he can only make sure of this, he will in all probability 
have secured everything. The great difficulty in the 
matter is to make the first plunge. Timid, irresolute, 
nervous, or ill-prepared men, cannot bring themselves 
to make this plunge. They stand shivering on the 
brink of the uncertain sea before them; they are 
ignorant of its currents ; they fear its depth ; they are 
wofully conscious of rocks or breakers ahead, and 
equally and painfully conscious of their own unpre- 
paredness to face these hidden dangers. The man who 
desires to succeed must provide against these contingen- 
cies. He must sound the depths before him ; he must 
provide himself, as far as prudence and skill may en- 
able him to do so, with the necessary protection and 
preservatives ; and, having done this, he must, when 
the moment arrives, take the plunge like a man. If 
his nerves were keenly braced, if he knew what he was 
about, if his faculties were all properly under his con- 
trol, he will rise to the surface after his plunge, calm, 
cool, self-collected, and, what is the great point, master 
of his subject. There will be no more hesitation ; no 
more shivering on the brink ; no more futile efforts to 



HOW TO SEIZE THE SUBJECT. 



147 



grasp that subject which is ever eluding his touch, which 
is ever glancing, indeed, before his mind's eye, but doing 
so with such fitful and uncertain gleams of light, as only 
serve to lead him more and more hopelessly astray. 

This happy result, this faculty of making a start, and 
of effecting a real entrance into our subject, will be the 
fruit, as is evident, much more of self-confidence, of 
practical, ready knowledge of what we are about, and, 
perhaps, most of all, of a little familiarity with the 
pulpit, than of any dogmatic rules, or of any system of 
teaching. But there is one thing which will assist us 
more than any other in the whole matter, one at which 
we have already glanced, and it is this: a clear, natural, 
and simple division of the discourse ivhich we aspire 
to deliver. 

Clear, plain, practical, elastic division of the subject is, 
as we have frequently said, the backbone of all really good 
preaching ; it is the very essence and substance of success 
in extemporary preaching. And although we have dealt 
with this matter, at least in a limited and subordinate 
degree, when treating of the Plan of a Discourse and 
its essential qualities, it is of such great and practical 
importance to the sacred orator, and more especially to 
the extemporary preacher, that we are certain we shall 
be pardoned for again returning to a brief considera- 
tion of it in this place. Besides, the broad idea of the 



148 



EXTEMPORARY PREACHING. 



arrangement of our matter, by means of the General 
Plan of the discourse, is not precisely the same thing 
as its Division. 

There is nothing, then, like a clear, plain, practical, 
elastic division of one's matter for enabling a preacher 
to seize his subject ; and there is nothing like a good 
plan for enabling a man thus to divide his matter. 

If unity be the great leading quality of every good 
plan, it naturally follows that every good discourse will 
be reducible to a syllogism — we do not say that it will 
be expressed in this manner-^and it is just in propor- 
tion as he keeps this simple truth clearly before his mind, 
that the preacher will be an adept in seizing his subject. 
Let him remember this : that his discourse is one ; that 
it contains a syllogism, of which he is to explain the 
major, prove the minor, and dilate upon the conse- 
quence : let him keep his eye keenly fixed upon this 
truth"; let him never lose sight of this dominating idea ; 
and, then, having secured this, let him follow the bent 
of his genius, the promptings of his intellect or his 
heart, and his success will be secured — he will speak 
fluently, eloquently, and well. If the mind of such a 
man begin to wander in the pulpit, if distractions arise, 
or troublesome thoughts obtrude themselves upon him, 
if he begin to lose his hold upon his subject, if the keen 
vision of his mind's eye begin to grow dim, he has his 



HOW TO SEIZE THE SUBJECT. 



149 



resource and remedy ready to his hand. He has but to 
throw his eye, with one strong, quick, steady glance^ 
backwards upon his subject. He has but to ask him- 
self, " Where am I now ? What am I proving or ex- 
plaining just at present ? Am I dealing with Scriptural 
arguments, with those taken from authority, or those 
relying upon human reason or experience for their 
weight?" And his mind will at once recover its balance, 
his intellect will reassert its undiminished and unques- 
tioned sway, and, once again, he will stand before his 
subject, its master and its lord. 

Nor, does it follow that because a man has made a 
skilful division of the matter of his discourse, and 
carries it clearly in his mind's eye, he is there- 
fore to lay it before his audience in the same 
shape, and, if you will, in the same hard dry way in 
which he has conceived it. " II faut" says Fenelon, 
" un- ordre, mais un ordre qui ne soit point promis et 
dtfcouvert des le commencement" This order, this 
division of his matter, let him remember, is intended 
much more for his own guidance, much more to keep 
him in the straight path, than for the benefit, at least 
immediately, of his hearers. According to Fenelon,* the 
most practically useful division is that which, avoiding 



* "Dial, sur l'Eloq.," torn. 10. 



150 



EXTEMPORARY PREACHING. 



all formal partition and pedantic enunciation of the 
matter of the discourse, nevertheless carefully distin- 
guishes all those points which require to be distin- 
guished, which assigns to each point its own proper 
place, and that place the precise one in which it will 
make the greatest impression. Such an order and 
arrangement as this the preacher, at least, must carry 
clearly and distinctly in his oWn mental vision, but he 
must, of course, also use his discretion as to how far he 
will allow such design and arrangement to become 
manifest to his hearers. We do not speak here of the 
relative advantage or disadvantage of formal division in 
regard to the hearer; we only speak of it in its relation 
to the preacher, and the help which it is calculated to 
afford him in his efforts to seize and maintain his hold 
upon his subject. For this latter purpose it is most 
useful to all, whilst it is absolutely indispensable to 
many, extemporary preachers. Without such careful 
and practical division of their matter, most men wander 
hopelessly from the point, and become lost in the 
labyrinths of their own confusion and disorder. 

" Concionem," says Natalis Alexander, " ita partiatur, 
ut auditores omnia facile percipiant, et memoria tene- 
ant, quo majorem inde fructum referre possint. Quam- 
vis evangelium integrum in modum homiliaB tractet, 
quod maxime optandum est, et in quo maxime eniten- 



HOW TO SEIZE THE SUBJECT. 151 

dum est, omnia tamen quae dicturus est, revocet ad duo 
vel tria capita seu propositiones, non disparatas, sed con- 
nexas, et ex eodem principio seu argumento generali 
ductas, cujus unitas partes omnes eomplectatur. Sub- 
divisiones rarae sint, et si quando fiant, intelligantur 
potius ab auditore, quam a concionatore exprimantur, 
et affectentur." This advice is of the greatest practical 
utility, and it admits of general application. No doubt 
there are discourses, destined for unlettered or un- 
sophisticated audiences, so simple in their nature and 
their scope, as to afford little room for anything like 
formal division of matter, less room still for any pedantic 
parade of such division before our hearers ; and there 
are other discourses which partake so fully of the nature 
of the set sermon, the 'plena ac numerosa oratio, as 
funeral orations, etc., that anything in the shape of for- 
mal or constrained division would evidently and pal- 
pably interfere with that flow of smooth, graceful, and 
polished eloquence which is essential to their success. 
But, making all due allowance for these and a few other 
obvious exceptions, it is quite certain that the advan- 
tage and utility of a clear, orderly, and practical division 
of the matter, in all ordinary sermons, is incontestable. 

The extemporary preacher who endeavours to speak 
without a previous careful arrangement and division of 
his matter, is almost certain to fail, and this for the simple 



152 



EXTEMPORARY PREACHING. 



reason that it is almost impossible for ordinary men to 
"possess" and master their subject in such circum- 
stances. Fenelon remarks that it is very rare to find 
order and arrangement in the operations of the mind. 
But, he adds, the preacher who, possessing this rare gift 
of order, also possesses energy, power, and good sense, 
will be perfect. 

Whilst, therefore, he will carefully avoid the extreme 
of formality, or constrained or inelastic divisions ; whilst 
he will use great discretion as to the manner and the 
fulness with which he will lay his division, or, in other 
words, the secret and naked skeleton of his discourse, 
before the eyes of his audience; the extemporary 
preacher who desires not merely to succeed, but to save 
himself from failure, will, if he be wise, be equally 
solicitous and careful ever to be guided, governed, 
and controlled by order and method, by a method 
which will arrange and put everything in its own 
proper place, and that place the one which reason, good 
sense, and clear knowledge and foresight of the ex- 
igencies of oratory, will suggest that it should occupy. 

Let us repeat once more, the great secret in this 
matter is, never lose sight of your subject This is the 
one great dominating rule and principle which should 
possess the extemporary preacher, by the aid of which 
all his views on the formation and acquisition of ideas, 



HOW TO SEIZE THE SUBJECT. 



153 



on the choice and arrangement of arguments, on earnest 
appeals to the heart and the sympathies of his hearers, 
must be controlled, directed, and governed. So long 
as he keeps this great principle clearly and strongly in 
view, he may give the fullest scope to the impulses of 
his genius, and to the promptings of his heart, without 
any fear that they will lead him astray. On the con- 
trary, they will only contribute to his success, and to 
the substantial reality of the triumph which will reward 
and crown his efforts. 

We have already remarked that every really orderly 
sermon will be, not expressed in, but reducible to, a 
syllogism. Let us once more impress this truth upon 
the mind of the young preacher. Besplas explains this 
clearly and well. Every sermon, says he, is a syllo- 
gism, of which the Major is contained in the Introduc- 
tion, the Minor in the Proposition, the Arguments or 
Proofs in the Body of the Discourse, and the Conse- 
quence in the Peroration. Thus, an infallible means of 
judging whether a discourse is in order, is to reduce 
it to a syllogism. If it be not susceptible of this ordeal 
there is something wrong about it. According to this 
principle, he continues, the Leading Proposition, or 
Major, will be contained in the Introduction or Exor- 
dium ; and, although it may easily £,dmit, or, perhaps, 
will demand, some explanation, it should not require or 



154 



EXTEMPORARY PREACHING. 



call for strict and logical proof. Should it do so, you 
would have begun to build your house without a foun- 
dation ; or, at all events, upon such a weak and uncer- 
tain foundation as must prove infinitely embarrassing 
to your future efforts. Your major proposition, there- 
fore, will be one which, though it may admit of expla- 
nation, can neither admit of, nor call for proof. The 
point or points to be proved will be contained in the 
Minor Proposition; and to their elucidation and sus- 
tainment the Body of the Discourse will be devoted. 
This is a great principle— this is the secret of order ; 
and yet, how many preachers are either ignorant of 
this principle, or lose sight of it in the composition of 
their sermons ? How much weariness and waste of 
time, and what great loss of golden opportunities for 
glorifying God and serving souls, is the inevitable con- 
sequence of this ignorance or omission ! 

Let us, in the light of this principle, see how Mas- 
sillon proceeds. 

He has to speak, let us say, of " The Happiness of the 
Just," and how does he establish his proposition? 

He commences by laying down the broad, general 
principle, that, " Those alone are truly happy who find 
comfort and support in the afflictions of life." The 
development of this beautiful and leading idea serves as 
the matter of the exordium. 



HOW TO SEIZE THE SUBJECT. 



155 



But, he continues, " The just alone receive true and 
solid comfort and support in their sufferings ;" and 
this forms the minor proposition, containing, as is plain, 
an assertion requiring to be proved, and supplying in 
these proofs the foundation of all those arguments, 
illustrations, etc.* which are to constitute the body of 
the discourse. 

Therefore, he concludes, recapitulating and enforcing 
the great ideas of the whole discourse, " The just alone 
are truly happy, since they alone are truly comforted 
and sustained in the afflictions of life." 

The advantage of such a division as this, with all its 
minor ramifications duly and clearly set forth, is 
palpable; and the man who is master of such a valuable 
auxiliary can scarcely fail to seize his subject, and to 
retain his hold upon it. 

But, it may be asked, what is the best and most 
practical way of dividing one's matter ? We answer, 
that which each one finds easiest and most useful to 
himself. In " Sacred Eloquence "* we have treated at 
length of the selection and arrangement of argu- 
ments, and have explained the various methods of 
arranging the matter of a discourse which are laid down 
by the most eminent authorities. The young and in- 

* Chap, viii., sections 4 and 5, 3rd edition. 



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EXTEMPORARY PREACHING. 



experienced preacher will, no doubt, do well carefully to 
study these various methods; and he will probably 
adopt that which recommends him to arrange the 
materials of the whole discourse, as well as of each 
individual part or prominent portion of it, under two 
or three great leading heads, as, Scripture, Tradition, 
and Reason. But, after all, each man, certainly each 
skilful and practised orator, will have some plan or 
method of arranging his materials peculiar to himself — 
some plan which he has acquired from the best of all 
masters, experience — some plan which he never saw, at 
least, not just as he employs it, in any book, but which 
he has invented or drawn up for himself, and which 
possesses this one great incalculable advantage, that it is 
his own, and that it enables him to dispose his forces 
with the greatest possible ease, readiness, and facility to 
himself, and with the greatest utility and effect in re- 
gard to the object in view. 

Let each one aim at securing some method or 
plan of his own for arranging the materials of his dis- 
course, and let him stick to that. It may be clumsy, 
inartistic, too brief or too diffuse to bear critical exami- 
nation, but let him not be uneasy about this. If it 
suit him, and answer his purpose, practically and well, 
this is the great point, and it will be of more value to 
him than the most elaborate method which could be 



HOW TO SEIZE ?HE SUBJECT. 



157 



devised by the skilful rhetorician. If it render him 
master of his subject, if it enable him to seize that 
subject in the fulness of its fruitful unity, if it pre- 
sent him with each argument, illustration, etc., of his 
discourse, ready to his hand at the very moment when 
he needs it, and if, whilst it does all this, it still leaves 
him sufficiently free to follow those inspirations of the 
moment which are so precious to the preacher, it is a 
perfect method for him, and in it he has secured an 
auxiliary which he can never too highly value, and which 
he can never too frequently employ. 

Let him not be too solicitous about the precise 
nature or method of his division. Let him only re- 
member that, whilst it admits of the greatest liberty, 
and gives the widest scope to individual capacity or 
taste, there are some points on which it is inexorable 
— on which it allows no latitude. 

It may be long or it may be short, but it must be 
clear, just, natural, and practical. These qualities are 
simply essential to it; without their presence it cannot 
possibly attain its object— without them, in one word, it 
does not exist. 

It must be clear ; its object must be to throw light 
upon that which is dark and obscure, or it is nothing. 
It is our mission — one which we can never sufficiently 
appreciate — one for whose perfect fulfilment we can 



158 



EXTEMPORARY PREACHING. 



never labour half enough- — to enlighten the world. We 
are the children of the light— Filii lucis ; we are the 
light of the world— Lux mundi. It is one of the most 
glorious prerogatives of our high vocation, that, whilst 
the children of the world are condemned to walk in 
darkness — in tenebris ambulant— we are placed on high 
to shed the saving light of life and truth upon the be- 
nighted world. This is why we are called the ministers 
of the light, the light of the world. But how are we 
to enlighten the world \ Is it not by our teaching ? Is 
it not by means of the ministry of the word ? Is it not 
by laying before our people, in season and out of season, 
plainly, simply, and earnestly, all those truths which 
they are bound to know, and all those virtues which 
they are bound to practise. Docendo, quae scire omni- 
bus necessarium est ad salutem. Is it not, before all 
things else, by doing this clearly ? We have in another 
place* explained at great length what is understood by 
the clearness of a Christian discourse, and the wide ex- 
tension and signification of that term. Here, it will 
suffice to remind the reader of the great principle laid 
down by St. Prosper : f Tarn simplex et apertus sermo 
debet esse, ut ab intelligentia sui nullos, quamvis 
imperitos, excludat ; and to remind him too, that this 

* " Sacred Eloquence," chap, viii., section 2. 
fLib. i. De Vit. Contempl, c. 23. 



HOW TO SEIZE THE SUBJECT. 159 

end is only gained by instruction which is perfectly 
simple and clear. But, as it is evident, that any ordi- 
nary instruction will possess the quality of clearness, 
just in proportion as the method according to which 
the matter of it is divided and partitioned out is 
clear and precise, it necessarily follows that anything 
like obscurity or confusion must be fatal to the object 
of division. It follows too, that every division which is 
clear will arrange and partition out the matter of the 
discourse with such order, nicety, and precision as to 
enable the preacher not only to carry the whole sermon 
in his mind without danger of confusion, but to lay his 
hand upon each particular part at the very moment 
when he requires to employ it. 

Is it not certain, too, that the division of a subject 
will be clear in proportion as it is natural ? If a man 
were to lay down certain strict undeviating laws for 
himself, and to say that, no matter what the subject of 
his discourse, or the circumstances of time, place, and 
audience might be, he would always arrange and divide 
his matter according to one unvarying rule, the result 
would surely be insufferable stiffness, and, in all human 
probability, obscurity and confusion. But, the prudent 
and skilled orator proceeds very differently to this. He 
knows well that every subject naturally resolves itself 
into some great leading points, or heads, or, whatever 



160 



EXTEMPORARY PREACHING. 



you may please to call them, and having selected his 
subject, and collected the materials of his discourse, his 
great anxiety is to discover, not according to what 
fanciful and far-fetched method he may arrange them, 
bat to discover and adopt those plain, simple, obvious 
divisions, or points, into which his subject most naturally 
resolves itself, since he understands perfectly well that 
these, forming the natural divisions of his subject, will 
be at once the most just, and throw the greatest clearness 
and light upon his discourse in its varied bearings. In 
such a division everything will be in its proper place, the 
subject will be embraced in its entirety, neither more 
nor less. Each point or leading argument will be a 
stepping stone to the next, and will gather additional 
force and strength from its relation to what has gone 
before, and that which is to follow it. Nothing will 
stand alone. Each part will preserve its own indi- 
viduality intact ; it will not trench upon any other por- 
tion of the discourse ; but, at the same time, the various 
parts will possess such a strict relation to one another 
and to the whole, as to produce that perfect unity of 
which we have spoken in another place, that unity 
which is, in one sense, at once the cause and effect of 
harmony and proportion. 

Matter arranged in this manner must possess the 
priceless quality of order and clearness; and such an 



HOW TO SEIZE THE SUBJECT. 161 

order or clearness of division is of incalculable assistance 
to the preacher, in aiding him to seize his subject and 
retain his hold of the same. It assists his memory in 
a wonderful manner, helps him to acquire the valuable 
habit of self-concentration, keeps his mind from wan- 
dering, or enables him to repress and recall it in the 
most effectual manner. The advantage which he will 
derive from the presence of such a clear, natural, and 
well arranged division of his matter, will far outweigh 
any momentary stiffness and formality which may 
threaten to interfere with the force and effect of those 
appeals to the sympathies and better feelings of an 
audience, upon which, it is quite true, the orator must 
ultimately rely so much for the success of his efforts. 
But, so far from an orderly division of matter, in the 
purely instructive or argumentative part of a discourse, 
diminishing the effect of those appeals to the passions 
which have to be made in their own proper place, they 
actually prepare the way, and that in the most practi- 
cal manner, for these appeals. A Christian preacher 
can never descend to become a buffoon any more than 
he can descend to become a mere mob orator. If he 
aspire to move men's hearts to their lowest depths, and 
most surely there are many occasions daring the course 
of his sacred ministry when he must aim at this — if he 
seek, by influencing the warmest passions and the keen^ 

12 



162 



EXTEMPORARY PREACHING. 



est sympathies of his hearers, to win them to his pur- 
pose and bend them to his will — he must seek to do 
so, he must seek to gain this result, as the effect of 
solid argument, of calm, reflecting reason. If he were a 
mere mob orator, he might, perhaps, afford to disregard 
the means provided he attained his end ; it might be 
enough for him to gain his purpose by blinding his 
hearers, by appealing to unworthy passions, by leading 
them astray. But, being as he is, the minister of the 
Gospel, and the ambassador of Him who is " The Way, 
the Truth, and the Light," he is not at liberty to adopt 
such means as these. He must gain his victories, he 
must lead men into the Way, by means of the Truth 
and the Light. Let him seek to move, since most men 
are gained to God only when they are efficaciously 
moved, but let him not seek to move until he has first 
thoroughly enlightened. Let him first cause the rays 
of God's beautiful Truth to shine upon the dark places, 
and, when he has done this, he will have prepared a 
field, destined to be rich and fruitful, for the action of 
God's all-powerful Grace. He may succeed in exciting 
a momentary enthusiasm — an enthusiasm unworthy of 
himself, mischievous and useless to his hearers — by 
mere empty appeals to the passions, by appeals which 
are not founded upon solid argument, upon sound in- 
struction, or upon plain common sense. But, of this 



HOW TO SEIZE THE SUBJECT. 



163 



let him be quite certain, that the only efforts which 
will be worthy of him as a Christian minister, will be 
those which are built upon the solid foundation of sim- 
plicity and Christian truth ; that he will never advance 
with safety, or with a rational assurance of solid fruit 
and of enduring success, except when his advances are 
directed, governed, and controlled by that order which 
is built upon Christian truth, Christian reason, and 
Christian good taste. 

The division of a discourse must possess another 
quality, and one more essential than any which we have 
yet considered. It must be thoroughly practical. And 
this will be evident from even the most cursory glance 
at the nature of the office which we undertake to dis- 
charge. Let us remember with St. Augustine that we 
are something more than mere Rhetoricians — " Non 
sumus Rhetores, sed Piscatores." We are fishers of 
souls. Let us reflect on the significance of the title 
with which the Spirit of God has dignified our office. 
It is the ministry of the Word : ministerium Verbi. 
The minister of the Word does not speak, as a great 
authority has eloquently said,* in order to tickle the 
ears of his audience, or in order to frame uncommor 
phrases. He simply speaks in order to fulfil his 

* "Entretiens sur la Predication Populaire." Dupanloup. 



164 



EXTEMPORARY PREACHING. 



ministry — a ministry the most grave and the most im- 
portant ; a ministry of action and of life ; a ministry 
which is to tell upon souls, but which requires the co- 
operation of those souls ; which is to produce its effect, 
at least to some extent, by the aid of human means, by 
conviction and persuasion. Such a ministry must be a 
living ministry — it must be pregnant with life and 
light. Its object is to vivify— Eloquium tuum viviftcat 
me — to animate souls with the principle of life, to impart 
to those souls, and to nourish within them, the life of 
faith, and of grace; to cause them to live the life of 
virtue, and of morality, or to strengthen and confirm 
these essential qualities of Christian being, if they have 
already been born within the soul. This amelioration, 
this elevation, this viviflcation of souls, as the same dis- 
tinguished writer remarks, is not one of those exterior 
works which are accomplished by human means. On 
the contrary, this is one of those works which, being 
essentially in the moral order, have their basis of opera- 
tion, and produce their effects, in the hidden depths of 
the soul. It is a work of intelligence and of light, of 
persuasion, and of love ; and, hence, discarding merely 
natural means, it relies for its results upon the living 
and the searching word of God : Sermo Dei vivus et 
efficax. 

From all this it follows, that as the Pastor, in order to 



HOW TO SEIZE THE SUBJECT. 



165 



fulfil the obligations of his high ministry, must be a 
man of action, a man of thought, a man of prayer — in 
brief, a man powerful in word and work : Potens verbo 
et opere : so, the word which he preaches must be 
eminently practical, not beating the air with empty and 
uncertain sounds, but, on the contrary, clear, precise, 
and tending directly to the desired end. 

The true Pastor, the true fisher of souls, speaks im- 
mediately, directly, and essentially to his hearers. The 
whole end, object, and scope of his preaching, is 
to make his hearers better men, to induce them to 
practise virtue, to avoid vice, and, by doing this, to 
save their souls. But, salvation is not attained by 
mere belief, by empty, barren faith. It is the fruit 
of good works, of faith working through charity, of 
Christian belief manifesting itself in Christian practice. 
Hence, every sermon worthy of the name, naturally and 
necessarily aims at some practical result to be produced 
upon the souls of the hearers ; and, hence, the division 
of every really practical discourse, will embrace some- 
thing to be done, or something to be avoided. A ser- 
mon without some tangible, practical result, is a sermon 
without fruit, and a sermon will almost infallibly be 
cursed with this barrenness and sterility, unless its 
division contain some plain practical points, clearly 
marked out and defined, to be laid before the people ; 



166 



EXTEMPORARY PREACHING. 



some points which are of such a nature as to have a 
direct and necessary influence upon the amendment of 
men's lives, the correction of their vices, or their progress 
in solid Christian virtue. As in the formation of the 
general plan of his discourse, so, still more in the par- 
ticular division of his matter, let the preacher ask 
himself, again and again, that question, full of such im- 
portant influences on the success of his efforts : What 
is it, precisely, that I am about to propose to my 
hearers ? What am I about to ask of them ? By what 
means do I intend to gain my end, and win my audience 
to my will ? 

Such are some of the great leading ideas which, it 
appears to us, the preacher should keep most carefully 
before his mind when dividing the matter of his dis- 
course, and by the aid of which he will most effectually 
seize his subject. Let him not aim at doing too much. 
Let him avoid being too formal and precise ; let him 
content himself with those two or three strong and 
vigorous members into which every strong and vigorous 
subject most naturally resolves itself. These members 
may, perchance, seem somewhat rugged and unpolished 
in their homely strength ; but, if they be really strong, 
that will be enough. The mantle of their strength 
will amply cover and condone what may be wanting to 
their perfect comeliness of form and shape. Above all, 



HOW TO SEIZE THE SUBJECT. 



Iffl 



let him avoid useless subdivisions, and tedious hair- 
splittings of his subject. However useful it may be in 
a purely controversial or philosophical treatise, or, how- 
ever much it may have been employed in other times, 
the spirit of our age, and the best practice of our pul- 
pit, is altogether against the use of profuse subdivision 
of a subject in sacred oratory. As an ordinary rule, 
instead of throwing light upon a subject, the only con- 
ceivable purpose for which they can be employed, sub- 
divisions surround and envelop it with darkness and 
obscurity, whilst they weaken and depress instead of 
elevating and dignifying it. As Quintilian says, useless 
or profuse subdivisions of a subject are the most certain 
way of producing that obscurity which it is precisely 
the object of order and arrangement to prevent. They 
do more than this : depriving a discourse of that broad- 
ness of view, and that massive dignity of proportion, 
which are at once the source and the result, as they 
are the surest marks, of true strength, superfluous sub- 
divisions fritter a discourse away to nothing, thus ren- 
dering it inefficacious to its end, which is the enlight- 
enment of the ignorant and the amendment of the 
erring; and unworthy of him who is the minister of 
the Light no less than of the Truth — of him whose 
ministry must be fruitless and dead unless it is potent 
to lead his flock, safely, surely, and easily, into the 



168 



EXTEMPOEARY PREACHING. 



blessed Way of Life, through the blessed and saving 
influences of the Light and the Truth. 

In fine, let us remark that this question of division, 
or practical arrangement of matter, has reference to 
each point, to each leading or subordinate argument, 
of which the whole discourse may be made up. It is 
in this precisely that the difference between the plan 
of a discourse and its division consists. The plan has 
reference to the whole discourse in a broad general 
way. The division applies to the whole discourse in 
general, but it also applies, in a precise and particular 
manner, to each portion of it, that is, to each leading 
portion or member. One of the great objects of the 
division, the one which we have just considered at such 
length, is to assist the preacher to secure in the easiest 
and most telling way the perfect realization of his plan 
in its entirety, and of each portion of his discourse in 
its individuality. We mention this matter here, since 
it is well that the reader should keep this distinction 
clearly before his mind, otherwise he may confuse 
ideas and principles which would be better kept se- 
parate. 



/ 




CHAPTER XIV. 



HOW TO SEIZE THE AUDIENCE — THE POWER OF SEIZING 
OUR AUDIENCE IS ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY TO PER- 
FECT SUCCESS — IN WHAT THIS POWER CONSISTS — 
THE CHRISTIAN ORATOR MUST ENOW HOW TO TEACH 
AND TO MOVE, HOW TO APPEAL TO THE INTELLECT 
AND THE HEART — INSTRUCTION AND ARGUMENTA- 
TION, THEIR FORCE, NATURE, AND* ESSENTIAL QUA- 
LITIES. 

T "has been well remarked that it not infre- 
quently happens that a preacher speaks at his 
hearers without ever actually speaking to them. 

This may arise from various causes. A man loses 
sight of his special audience, with its special needs and 
its special circumstances ; he has no one, in particular, 
in view in what he says, any more than he has any 
plain, precise, and definite object clearly before him ; 
he speaks of vague generalities, in a vague general way, 
which would apply to any audience equally as well as 
to the one he addresses; Instead of speaking and 




170 



EXTEMPORARY PREACHING. 



addressing himself to the audience before him — instead 
of applying himself to the consideration of its moral 
being, probing its wounds, and applying the special 
remedies which those wounds may require, he addresses 
himself to some shadowy phantom which has been 
called into life by himself, and which has no real 
existence outside his own brain. In a word, his sermon 
has no closer practical application to any particular 
audience, than the discourses which are delivered, prin- 
cipally as a literary exercise, by a student in college. 
Perhaps it is even more deficient in practical applica- 
tion. The result is, that his sermon, being devoid of 
the principle of energy and life, wantiDg special direc- 
tion equally with practical application, falls cold and 
dead upon the ears and the hearts of an unmoved and 
unsympathising audience ; the result is, that whilst a 
man may succeed, perhaps perfectly, in seizing his sub- 
ject, he may fail, utterly and completely, in seizing his 
audience. 

In the course of this essay we have broached so many 
.of the difficulties which assail the preacher, that we 
almost shrink from approaching the consideration of 
another. It may seem to some that our object is to 
raise up giants for the pleasure of demolishing them. 
But it is not so. The road we have to travel is beset 
with difficulties; and, although we venture to hope 



HOW TO SEIZE THE AUDIENCE. 



171 



that we have by this time succeeded in clearing a good 
many of them out of the young preacher's way, there 
still remains one, so practical and so formidable, that 
we can neither afford to despise nor to pass it by, with- 
out careful study and attention. We shall notice it, 
however, as briefly as possible. 

There is perhaps no preacher, certainly no one with 
much practice in preaching, who has not had some ex- 
perience of days on which everything seems to go 
wrong with him. No matter how carefully he may 
have selected the subject of his discourse ; no matter 
how diligently he may have studied it ; no matter how 
earnestly and zealously he may have striven to imbue 
himself with the spirit and the sentiments appropriate 
to the occasion; it has all been of little or no use. 
His words have fallen idly and coldly upon the ears of 
an audience whom all his efforts have failed to rouse, 
or to excite into anything like warmth or enthusiasm ; 
an audience whose mere attention perhaps he has not 
succeeded in arresting and maintaining. On days such 
as these, and they occur ip the life of every preacher^ 
he seems to be pressed to the earth by a relentless and 
overpowering hand ; and, after struggling for a longer 
or shorter time with the adverse circumstances which, 
surround and master him, he is fain to descend from 
the pulpit, oppressed by the conviction, as evident as it 



172 



EXTEMPORARY PREACHING. 



is painful, that he has produced no result; that his 
efforts, so far at least as they may be weighed in human 
balances, have been thrown away ; that he has moved 
no man's heart, perhaps not even convinced any man's 
intellect ; that, in one word, he has never for a moment 
mastered the position, but that the whole thing, to use 
a plain, hard phrase, has been a failure. 

But there have been days — the "red-letter" days of 
the true orator — when it has been quite different with 
him. There have been days when the sacred fire has 
blazed up keenly and brightly within his soul; when 
his voice, and his eye, and his heart, have answered 
promptly and readily, with keen instinct, and with 
eager impulse, to the demand of those who, sitting at 
his feet, have hung upon his words ; of those who, with 
their eyes riveted upon his face, have communed with 
him, soul to soul, in that unspoken but most eloquent 
language, whose mystic power may be felt at such a 
time with a responsive throb, but can never be de- 
scribed. On such days as these, the flash of his eye 
has been enough to inflame the hearts of his audience ; 
the mere upraising of his hand has been enough to 
hold them spell-bound. On these days he has stood 
before his audience, in the fullest, deepest sense of the 
word, their master and their ruler. They have hung 
entranced upon the words of his mouth. They have 



HOW TO SEIZE THE AUDIENCE. 



173 



been powerless before the force of his reasoning, the 
fascination of his manner, the magic of his voice, the 
depth and the vehemence of his passion. They have 
been moved in the deepest recesses of their moral being, 
and in the most hidden corners of their hearts. The 
preacher has realized to the full his position as Pastor 
and as Man, and hence he has spoken to them in the 
very language of nature, of nature ennobled and ex- 
alted by religion and faith. His success on such occa- 
sions has been perfect and complete, simply because it 
has had its foundation in that mutual sympathy, that 
mutual action of soul upon soul, which is perhaps so 
rarely found, at least in the perfection of its fulness, 
but which, when it once exists between a preacher and 
his audience, renders success easy, triumphant, and 
complete. In one word, on such days as these he has 
mastered the position fully and entirely ; he has not 
only done what it is in the power of every man of ordi- 
nary attainments and industry to do — seize his subject 
— but he has succeeded in achieving a much more im- 
portant victory, and one which is much more rarely 
gained — he has seized his audience. 

It is much easier to dilate on the importance to 
the preacher of being able to seize his audience, than to 
show precisely in what this power consists, or how it is 
to be exercised. But, as it is in this that the secret of 



174 



EXTEMPORARY PREACHING. 



success consists much more than in anything else, we 
must necessarily devote some little attention to the 
matter, more especially as the tendency of our studies 
up to this point has undoubtedly been in the direction 
of stiffness and formality, and we must candidly admit 
that if the young preacher were to content himself with 
mastering and applying the principles which we have 
hitherto striven to establish, the result would probably 
be to make him, perhaps a very precise and methodical 
preacher, but certainly not a very graceful or pleasing 
one. 

It is one thing, then, to seize our subject, and an- 
other, and a very different thing, to seize our audience. 
And a man may seize and master his subject thoroughly, 
and yet lose the greater part, if not the whole, of his 
labours, through his inability to seize his audience. 

But, it may be asked, what is meant by seizing our 
audience, and how is it to be accomplished ? 

The power of seizing our audience is simply the 
power of speaking to their hearts and of arresting their 
attention — the power of causing ourselves to be attended 
to. There are some men who have but to open their 
lips and the whole congregation hangs entranced upon 
their utterances. It may be the charm and fascination 
of manner, or it may be the eloquence and passionate 
warmth of the language, or it may be ; what perhaps is 



HOW TO SEIZE THE AUDIENCE. 



175 



strongest and most powerful of all, the secret but invin- 
cible influence which lurks in the tones of the sympa- 
thetic voice ; but, whatever it may be, it is a something 
which rivets the attention, which absorbs the faculties, 
which hushes every tongue and stills every restless 
movement, which attracts every eye to the face of him 
who speaks, which causes every heart to beat in unison 
with that of the speaker, which, in one word, causes 
him to be attended to with pleasure and parted from 
with regret. The man who is master of this power is 
master of a great gift ; no man can be an orator with- 
out it; and it is something very different from the 
mere power of seizing the subject. The latter is, or at 
least may be, to a great extent mechanical, and the 
result of mere patient industry and practice ; the former 
will always have something of genius and passion in its 
composition, will always be inspired, at least in some 
measure and degree, by the sacred fire which is as 
much the inheritance of the true orator as of the poet. 

And now, it may be fairly asked how is this end, so 
desirable and so valuable, to be attained, and what 
practical means are to be employed in its acquisition. 

It is evident that the power of seizing our audience 
is nothing more than the power of unfolding our sub- 
ject in a clear, forcible, attractive, and winning manner. 
Up to a certain point in their sermon, any two men 



176 



EXTEMPORARY PREACHING. 



who have carefully prepared the plan of their discourse, 
are on an equal footing. Both are in possession of a 
plan, and both, let us suppose, have been equally suc- 
cessful in seizing the subject. But it is not enough to 
seize the subject; they must also be able to unfold it, 
and bring it home to the minds and hearts of their 
hearers, and here they part company. One of these 
men cannot, do as he will, realize his plan, make it 
practical to his hearers, render it attractive to them, 
and pregnant with influence on the amendment of 
their lives and manners. The other succeeds perfectly 
in this : he causes himself to be attended to, his teach- 
ing is received with reverent and ready respect, whilst 
his admonitions, his exhortations, and reproofs, produce 
their full effect, and bring forth abundant fruit unto 
everlasting life. One man can unfold his subject, and 
the other is unable to do so. 

To be able, then, to unfold our subject, to develop 
and realize our plan, so as to bring it home to every 
mind and to every heart, is plainly a matter of the 
utmost importance, and one upon which perfect success 
in preaching must ultimately depend. 

We say perfect success, for a man may propose to 
himself an end in preaching which is really no end at 
all, just as he may produce a discourse which is not 
really a sermon. Many of the so-called sermons of the 



HOW TO SEIZE THE AUDIENCE. 



177 



day are nothing more than the baldest and most meagre 
of theological instructions. Others are merely polished 
and scholarly essays on some religions subject, handled in 
a perfectly cool and gentlemanly way, but without any 
other definite object than the production of the essay 
itself, or the decent filling up of a certain portion of the 
services of the Church. Such discourses rarely aim at 
anything higher than the scholarly quotation and treat- 
ment of a certain text, which, as Jeremy Taylor observes, 
is a very inconclusive, and a very dry way of dealing with 
a subject. And such a way of treating a subject can 
never result in the production of a sermon. 

For what is a sermon ? A sermon is, of its nature, a 
persuasive oration, and its ultimate object is, not to 
discuss some abstract point, or some metaphysical truth, 
not to convince our hearers that they are bound to 
become better men, but to persuade them, really and 
efficaciously, to do so.* And, if such be the nature 
and the object of a sermon, does it not follow that 
perfect success in preaching can only be gained when the 
subject of the discourse has been so unfolded and 
developed as to be brought home to every intellect and 
to every heart ? Does it not follow that we shall only 
succeed in seizing our audience just in proportion as 
we are enabled to enlighten the intellect and to move 



* " Sacred Eloquence," chap. ix. sec. i. et seq. 

13 



178 



EXTEMPORARY PREACHING. 



the heart ? Does it not follow that perfect success in 
the development of our plan simply means perfect suc- 
cess in teaching and in moving our hearers ? 

To be able, then, to seize our audience, we must, let 
us repeat once more, be able to instruct them, and to 
move them ; to influence the intellect and the heart. 
And our success in thus seizing them will be measured 
by the degree in which we possess, more or less per- 
fectly, these precious faculties. 

The body, or substantial part of every discourse, will 
be taken up with the work of instruction, in the broad 
and general meaning of the word as applied to sacred 
oratory, that is, with instruction embracing a clear ex- 
planation of the Christian doctrine, and the sustainment 
of the same by sound and solid reasoning. 

Hence, the first step towards success in seizing our 
audience depends upon our power of explaining the 
doctrine which we preach. 

It is not necessary to dwell in this place upon the 
necessity which lies in these days on every true pastor 
of souls, of explaining the doctrine of Christ, and of in- 
structing his people solidly, clearly, and well in all those 
truths which they are bound to know, and all those 
virtues which they are bound to practise ?* That we 
live in days in which ignorant self-sufficiency and 



" Sacred Eloquence." 



HOW TO SEIZE THE AUDIENCE. 179 

flagrant dereliction of duty go hand in hand, is a truth 
which, unfortunately, requires no confirmation. It will 
be more to the point to inquire how we may best dis- 
charge a duty at once so important in itself and so 
intimately connected with our success. 

The talent of instructing the people, and of explain- 
ing the Christian doctrine, can hardly be over-rated ; 
and it is one which is more rarely possessed than may 
at first sight appear. The only thoroughly good teacher 
or instructor is the man who is able to adapt his teach- 
ing closely, pertinently, and effectively, to the intelli- 
gence, capacity, and special necessities of the persons 
whom he addresses, hie et nunc, as it is said. But, 
here precisely is the difficulty. It is easy enough to 
compose an instruction in the abstract, and this is just 
what most men do. They deliver vague, general, and 
unpractical discourses — discourses which have no special 
application to any really special audience, but which 
are just as well adapted to one congregation as to an- 
other. But what is needed is, not instruction in the 
abstract, but instruction in the concrete ; in other words, 
instruction, every word of which shall have special and 
positive reference and application to the very people to 
whom it is addressed. And this is the real difficulty. 
It is so hard to get a man to understand this matter ; 
harder still to get him intimately to appreciate it. It 



180 



EXTEMPORARY PREACHING. 



is so hard to get many men to understand that true 
eloquence does not consist in mere grace of style, or in 
elegant figures of speech ; but that it is simply the 
power of acting upon and influencing the minds and 
the hearts of men, and that, as a necessary consequence, 
the first condition of being eloquent consists in putting 
ourselves, in some sense, on a level with those to whom 
we speak, that thus we may address ourselves most 
clearly to their intellectual capacity, and most power- 
fully to their emotions and feelings. No language is 
eloquent, in the concrete, which does not accomplish 
this end ; but it is not easy to get a young preacher to 
admit this principle, or reduce it to practice. A young 
preacher shrinks from employing that simple language, 
and that still more simple style, which alone are intelli- 
gible to the uneducated audience whom it may be his 
duty to instruct; and thus, forgetting that language 
has been primarily given to man as the vehicle of com- 
municating his ideas to his fellow-men, whilst he 
labours to be elegant he simply becomes unintelligible 
and obscure. Or, as likely as not, he fails to compre- 
hend and to master the intellectual difficulties of his 
simple flock. Everything is clear and plain to him, 
and he at once concludes that it is the same with those 
who listen to him. He does not appreciate the fact 
that it requires most careful study, and no ordinary 



HOW TO SEIZE THE AUDIENCE. 



181 



amount of patience, of tact, and of reflection, to address 
an uncultivated and uneducated audience with profit 
and success. Many men fail to understand and appre- 
ciate these ideas, and hence the talent of " teaching " is 
so rarely met with. But, if we desire to seize our 
audience, we must persuade ourselves that the power 
of teaching and instructing them is one of our most 
effective means of doing so ; and we must equally per- 
suade ourselves that we shall never become good 
teachers except by the careful observance of certain 
conditions which are radically opposed to the defects 
at which we have just glanced. 

The man who would render his instruction at once 
useful and attractive, must be content to walk in the 
footsteps of his divine Lord and Master. When Jesus 
Christ addressed the crowds who flocked around His 
sacred feet, it was not in high-flown language, or in 
far-fetched figures of speech : on the contrary, He spoke 
in the most simple and familiar manner. The words 
which He employed are clear and plain, whilst His dis- 
courses contain many short maxims easy to retain and 
full of substance. When it is necessary to descend to 
the level of His hearers, He does not hesitate to do so. 
He condescends to employ the most homely compari- 
sons, and the most striking, because the most familiar, 
illustrations. The disciple must not seek to be above 



182 



EXTEMPORARY PREACHING. 



his master, but must be content to walk, at an humble 
distance, in His sacred footsteps. IS! or let the young 
preacher fear, lest in striving to be simple, he incur 
the risk of degrading the dignity of the pulpit. If he 
study the sermons of Dr. Newman and other great 
masters of the language, he will find, for his comfort 
and consolation, that the utmost simplicity of expression 
is compatible with the greatest dignity and purity of style. 

Let him only be simple ; let him guard against the 
fatal error of supposing that, because he may have to 
speak on a familiar subject, or to an unlettered 
audience, he can therefore dispense with studious and 
diligent preparation ; let him be careful to select such 
plain and practical subjects as are within the capacity 
of his hearers ; let him employ no comparison or 
example, no illustration, sacred or profane, which is not 
easily intelligible to any ordinary intellect; let his 
narrations be interesting and appropriate to the subject, 
lively, and full of vigour ; and let him not be sparing in 
their use, since a judicious employment of histories, 
parables, and examples, is one of the most powerful 
ways of interesting an audience, and of retaining their 
attention •> and he will have done much, and made 
very decided progress in that difficult undertaking — 
the power of seizing his audience and causing himself 
to be attended to. 



HOW TO SEIZE THE AUDIENCE. 



183 



In doing this lie will have done much, but, unfor- 
tunately, he will not have done everything. There 
have been ages of the Church, ages of faith and of 
simple piety, in which it was enough to instruct and to 
exhort. But these ages, alas ! have passed away, and 
we live in times of a very different character ; in times 
which are full of troubles peculiar to themselves ; in 
times which bring with them their own peculiar duties 
and obligations. We live in times in which scoffing 
impiety and unbelief are rampant in the land ; in 
which faltering professions, and half-hearted faith, have 
hardly shame enough remaining to them to cause them 
to hide themselves away in silence and obscurity. The 
Protestantism of the sixteenth century, and the infidel 
philosophy of later ages, are now receiving their full 
development in the terrible spirit of indifferentism, if 
not of positive unbelief, which is the curse of the times 
in which we live. The powers of earth and of hell 
have taken counsel together against the Lord and 
against His Christ, and they are able to work with a 
fulness of means, with an abundance of money, with a 
control over all the paraphernalia and machinery of a 
propagandism at once most active and most powerful, 
which renders their efforts as bold as they are unceas- 
ing. No class is safe from their attacks : youth in its 
innocence ; manhood in its intellectual self-sufficiency 



184 



EXTEMPOKAKY PREACHING. 



age in its weakness ; is equally exposed to their insi- 
dious advances. And the result is, that so many men, 
of whom we had reason to expect better things, go 
down, utterly and hopelessly, in this terrible warfare ; 
so many men of noble hearts, of generous feelings, of 
tender sympathies, men whom we are forced to love in 
spite of ourselves, surrender, almost without a struggle ; 
so many men deny and throw away and trample upon 
the ensign of their Faith and their Belief almost before 
it is well within their grasp ; so many men, who were 
surely destined for a happier fate, disgrace and dis- 
honour their Religion and themselves, and, poor fools 
that they are, thus purchase for themselves the fulness 
of the everlasting vengeance of an outraged God. 
And for these, and for many other reasons, on which 
it is unnecessary to dwell at length in this place, the 
Christian orator of these times is compelled, not merely 
to instruct and exhort his flock, but also to support 
the doctrine which he preaches by sound reasoning 
and by solid argumentation. 

Man is essentially a reasonable creature, and, in 
these times especially, we must be able to show him 
that he acts reasonably in admitting and adopting the 
truths which we propose to him. In eloquence, as in 
philosophy, conviction must be the result of sound 
reasoning, the fruit of just consequences deduced from 



HOW TO SEIZE THE AUDIENCE. 185 



sound principles. We must be able to prove the 
assertions which we advance ; we must be able to give 
a reason for the faith which is in us ; we must be able 
to maintain, with simplicity and gravity, but with 
unflinching and unquestioned authority, the truths of 
divine Faith and the precepts of the divine Law. 
Faith and Reason must go hand-in-hand, and the two- 
fold light which emanates from them must be brought 
to shed its rays upon the truths which we teach, and 
upon the doctrine which we enforce. We call upon 
our people to submit their judgment and their intel- 
lect to the doctrines which we proclaim, to the Faith 
which we promulgate; but let us never forget that 
the subservience of intellect and of will which we 
require at their hands is to be a reasonable, an emi- 
nently reasonable submission : Rationabile obsequium. 

From all this it follows that sound reasoning and 
solid argumentation must constitute the very nerve and 
muscle of modern pulpit oratory. The very skill of 
the introduction, and the very force of the appeal to 
the passions which will be scattered through the dis- 
course, but which will have special place in the per- 
oration, are, in a manner, subservient to this ; since the 
exordium merely paves the way for the argumentation, 
whilst the appeal to the passions which occurs in the 
peroration rests upon this same argumentation as upon 



186 



EXTEMPORARY PREACHING. 



a solid foundation. And, hence, too, it follows, that 
much of a preacher's success, and much of his power of 
seizing his audience, will depend upon his power of 
reasoning soundly, solidly, and well. 

In the body, then, of his discourse, the preacher 
will be occupied principally with argumentation, or, in 
other words, with the management of those arguments 
from Holy Writ, from authority, or from natural reason 
enlightened by Faith, which he will bring forward in 
support of the great leading proposition to the estab- 
lishment of which his sermon is principally directed. 

In "Sacred Eloquence"* we have treated at considerable 
length of argumentation, of the position which it holds 
in the Christian oration, and of the conditions which 
are necessary to ensure its success. It will suffice to 
repeat in this place that the success of an argument 
may be said, in a broad general way, to depend upon 
the manner in which it is reasoned, and the manner in 
which it is amplified. 

Taking it for granted that the arguments of the 
preacher will be discreetly selected, and with all due 
regard to the special circumstances of time, place, and 
person, which have to be considered ; taking it equally 
for granted that these arguments will be skilfully 



* Chap. vffl. sec. i. et seqq. 3rd edition. 



HOW TO SEIZE THE AUDIENCE. 



187 



arranged, and with all due attention to that palmare 
principium of eloquence, ut augeatur semper et in- 
crescat oratio, we may now consider for a few moments 
in what the intrinsic force and effect of reasoning 
consists. 

The art of reasoning has been broadly said to consist 
in the power of inferring and deducing that which is 
less, from that which is more fully known ; or, in the 
power of proving something which seems doubtful from 
something which is taken as certain. The man who 
reasons begins by assuming, as essentially and necessarily 
certain, and admitted by all, some first principle, or 
some leading proposition, and then proceeds to show 
the necessary connection of some doubtful or disputed 
proposition with that which has been already admitted 
to be true. When this process is expressed and put 
into spoken words it is called an argument, and this 
faculty of evolving truth, of deducing one principle 
from another, is simply invaluable to the orator. An 
eminent authority has well said* that the preacher will 
infallibly compromise his ministry unless he be an adept 
in the art of reasoning, and the same writer adds that 
reasoning is the anatomy of eloquence : Le discours est 
une chaine, il faut que les anneaux tiennent The 



* Besplas. 



188 



EXTEMPORARY PREACHING. 



links of this chain are formed by solid arguments and 
by logical deductions. Let us have in the first place, 
says Fenelon * principles and facts ; then, consequences ; 
and let our reasoning be so arranged that each argu- 
ment will fulfil its own part, and contribute its own 
share to the strength of the whole ; and St. Liguori says 
that every good discourse will take the form of sound 
and solid argumentation, not arranged, indeed, accord- 
ing to the method of the logician, but of the orator. 

The orator who is not a logician, to whom the power 
of reasoning does not come readily and well, will hardly 
ever be anything more than a mere talker ; a man who 
may fill the air with the sound of his voice, and succeed, 
perhaps, in making much noise, but who will never say 
anything worth listening to, or anything which will 
produce a lasting effect. 

Yes, the preacher who is to succeed in seizing his 
audience must, in these days, be a skilful reasoner ; 
ready in the use of argument ; as quick in his defence 
of the truth as in his detection of error and falsehood. 

It is scarcely necessary to say that there are three 
methods or forms of reasoning, a knowledge of each of 
which is equally useful and indispensable: the syllo- 
gism, the enthymeme, and the dilemma. The syllogism 



* " Dial, sur l'Eloq.," torn. 10. 



HOW TO SEIZE THE AUDIENCE. 



189 



is the soul, the very essence, of a good argument. As 
we have already seen, every good and orderly discourse 
is easily reducible to a syllogism, of which the intro- 
duction contains the major, the body of the sermon 
the minor, the peroration the conclusion. What is 
true of the whole discourse is true of each part of it — 
that is, of each leading part or argument — it should be 
easily reducible to a syllogism ; and it is as easy to a 
skilful and practical speaker to throw his arguments 
into logical order and shape as it is customary with un- 
skilful or unprepared preachers to speak wildly and at 
random, without order, unity, or precision. But, it is 
also true, that he would be a strange preacher, as fan- 
tastic as he would be unreal, whose sermon should 
consist of a string of strict and formal syllogisms : 
hence it is, that a popular and practical speaker will 
hardly ever, perhaps never, present his arguments in 
the purely syllogistic form. He will employ instead 
the orator's syllogism, as Aristotle calls it — the enthy- 
meme, which is a very easy and simple method of 
reasoning, and which, whilst in reality it is just as 
strict and orderly, is free from the formality of the 
logical syllogism. Frequently, he will present his ar- 
gument in the shape of a dilemma. This mode of 
reasoning, argumentum utrimque feriens, is also very 
popular and practical, and is, of course, especially 



190 



EXTEMPORARY PREACHING. 



useful in refuting false principles and specious objec- 
tions. 

But, whilst he is careful to reason closely and well, 
the popular preacher will be equally careful to fulfil 
the wise precept of Quintilian — viz., to keep all appear- 
ance of art or studied formality well out of sight and 
hidden away. Ars artis eelare artem, is a precept 
which he can never afford to forget. The surest way 
to reason well is to study our subject thoroughly, and 
sift it to the very bottom, that thus we may more 
effectually distinguish between what is true and what 
is false — between what is specious and what is real. 
We must be rigorously exact in grounding our argu- 
ments upon principles which are not merely strictfy 
true in themselves, but which are also clear 
and intelligible. We must seek the truth with sin- 
cerity and earnestness, and, having found it, we must lay 
it before our readers with equal sincerity, simplicity, 
and good sense. We must shrink from the use of 
sophistry, deceit, or double-dealing, in any form or shape. 
Our adversaries, if, unfortunately, the truths we pro- 
claim should meet with such, must, equally with the 
members of our own flock, recognise the simplicity, the 
sincerity, and the straight-forwardness of our teaching. 
If our arguments be founded upon these great general 
principles ; if all men are able to see at once, that our 



HOW TO SEIZE THE AUDIENCE. 



191 



only object is to preach the truth in all simplicity of 
heart, and with all honesty of purpose; if there be 
always a rigorous connection and sequence between the 
principles which we lay down, and the conclusions which 
we deduce from them ; and finally, if our various argu- 
ments be connected by true rhetorical and skilful tran- 
sitions, i.e., by such forms of expression, or turns of 
thought, as spring from the very essence of the subject 
itself, and have equal relation to that which the 
preacher has already said as to that which he is about 
to say — such as follow the course of the reasoning, and 
bind the whole together, in an orderly and methodical 
arrangement ; such turns of thought, in a word, as call 
for, and correspond with each other by an inevitable 
analogy, and not merely by an unexpected association, 
or by a purely artificial combination of words ; we shal 
reason closely and well, and, by this means, make a 
great and sensible impression upon our hearers; we 
shall have gone a long way, and made most decided and 
tangible progress towards seizing our audience. 




CHAPTER XV. 

HOW TO PRESENT THE SUBJECT IN A POPULAR SHAPE — 
AMPLIFICATION, REAL AND FALSE — NATURE OF TRUE 
AMPLIFICATION — THE ESSENTIAL PART IT PLAYS IN 
THE SUCCESS OF THE SACRED ORATOR. 

NA laus et propria oratoris," says Cicero, " sum- 
ma laus eloquentise, ampliflcare rem ornando." 
It is one thing to render an argument intelligible 
and convincing ; it is another, and a very different 
thing to render it persuasive, that is, powerful, effec- 
tive, and well adapted for gaining the end which the 
speaker proposes to himself in employing it. 

In the last chapter we endeavoured to show how 
much the success of the preacher, in seizing his 
audience, will depend upon his power of reasoning well, 
of rendering his arguments intelligible and convincing. 
His success, however, in this important matter, will de- 
pend still more upon his power of amplifying his argu- 
ments, as it is technically called ; and this point we 
now propose to consider. 




HOW TO SEIZE THE AUDIENCE. 193 

The power or faculty of reasoning well is a great 
thing, but it is not everything which the sacred orator 
requires, and with which, if happily he possess it, he 
may remain content. Reasoning simply addresses itself 
to the intellect and the understanding. When it has 
succeeded in convincing the understanding, it has 
accomplished its object, and it has no other part to 
play. But how rarely does a preacher happen to 
address an audience so intelligent, so learned, and with 
minds so highly trained, as to justify him in confining 
himself in his discourse to a series of purely logical, 
closely reasoned arguments ; for, although we may con- 
ceive such a sermon to be intelligible, would it not 
most certainly be unpardonably dry and uninteresting. 
Such a discourse must be followed word by word, argu- 
ment by argument, link by link. If one link of the chain 
of reasoning be lost, the whole argument is irretrievably 
gone, and the patient listener, spite his patience, finds 
himself hopelessly astray. Is it not certain that there are 
few men who are capable of thus closely following out a 
sustained and elaborate argument ? Is it not equally cer- 
tain that there are fewer still, who, even if they be able, 
are willing thus to follow a discourse with attention at 
full stretch, or who will not become simply wearied and 
disgusted with the logical dryness and the uninviting 
plainness of the sermon itself, and impatient of the men- 
tal labor and restraint which is thus imposed upon them ? 

14 



194 



EXTEMPOEARY PREACHING. 



Is it not most certain of all, that there are very few occa- 
sions on which the preacher can venture to be satisfied 
with delivering a discourse which addresses itself alto- 
gether, or even principally, to the understanding and 
the intellect of his hearers ? 

As we only efficaciously move man to embrace that 
which is good, and to reject that which is evil, by acting 
upon his will, it necessarily follows that, in all ordinary 
circumstances, no sermon can be thoroughly successful, 
or gain its end, which does not move the heart and in- 
fluence the will, as well as instruct the intellect and 
convince the understanding. And, hence it is, that the 
sacred orator has to aim at something more than the 
art of reasoning. It is not sufficient for him merely to 
form good arguments ; he must know how to put his 
arguments persuasively, and this is done by their skilful 
amplification, as it is styled by rhetoricians. 

Amplificare rem ornando : This is what Cicero 
means by the amplification of arguments. In plain 
English, it signifies the faculty x>f presenting them 
in a popular form, or, what is the same thing, the power 
of putting our arguments before an audience with all 
the force, vigour, beauty, and practical application, of 
which they are susceptible. And it is scarcely necessary 
to add, this faculty is the one which is most essential to 
our success, the one which will have the greatest prac- 



HOW TO SEIZE THE AUDIENCE. 195 



tical influence upon the result of our endeavours to 
seize our audience, and render them subservient to our 
will. 

For, as we have already said, a sermon is of its nature 
a persuasive oration, which is addressed to the people 
with the object of gaining them efficaciously to the ser- 
vice of God, of causing them to reject that which is 
evil, and to embrace that which is good. This is the 
primary end of all our preaching. But experience 
teaches us that the people are slow to understand the 
things of God, slow to comprehend and to seize the mys- 
teries of the supernatural order. Hence, we cannot, as 
a rule, rest satisfied with our arguments merely because 
we have put them clearly, or rendered them fairly in- 
telligible to ordinary intellects. We must go a step 
further than this ; we must bring them home to every 
heart and soul ; and in order to do this we must present 
them under different aspects and from different points of 
view. We must give warmth to what would otherwise 
be cold, life to what would otherwise remain inanimate 
and dead. We have sown the good seed by the solid 
instruction which we have imparted to our people. We 
must cause that good seed to grow and develop itself 
under the vivifying influence of the life-giving rain of 
amplification. Yes ; if we would succeed, we must put 
our arguments in a popular form and shape. We speak, 



196 



EXTEMPORARY PREACHING. 



and we see by the vacant faces, and the uninterested 
looks of our hearers, that they either do not comprehend 
what we say, or, if they comprehend it, that they neither 
appreciate its force, nor are moved by its influence. 
We must present it in a different shape, clothe it in 
another form of words, illustrate it by some homely 
comparison, or by a happy and well chosen example. 
Remembering that the real amplification of an argu- 
ment, as of a discourse, consists in something more 
than in merely heaping words upon words, and phrases 
upon phrases, we must, if necessary, present our argu- 
ments again and again. We must bring them forward 
again and again in a new dress; we must labour to 
render them more clear, more intelligible, more vivid, 
more homely, and more full of human and practical 
interest ; and we must continue to do this until the 
sparkling eyes, the sympathetic looks, the eager faces of 
our audience, tell us that our words have struck home 
at last ; that they have made their mark upon the hearts 
of our hearers ; that they have produced the full effect 
which we intended them to have upon the souls of those 
who listen to us. When this result has been accom- 
plished we may be satisfied that our argument has been 
put in a popular shape; that it has been amplified 
secundum regulas artis, or, what is the same thing, 
according to the rules of good taste, of sound common 



HOW TO SEIZE THE AUDIENCE. 197 

sense, of honest intention, and of laborious endeavour 
elevated and directed by one of the highest and most, 
sublime motives which can actuate and move the 
human heart— zeal for the greater glory of God and 
the good of our brother's soul. 

The man who is skilful in amplifying his arguments 
—in other words, the man who is really a popular 
speaker- — has been well described by an accomplished 
writer as a man who knows how to enter in by the 
door of his hearers and make them go out by his own. 
He identifies himself with them. He strives to think 
as they think. He strives to feel as they feel. Nay, 
as often as it is possible, he strives to love what they 
love, since it is only thus that he can perfectly succeed 
in presenting his subject to them in such a manner as 
to appeal at once, and that most vividly, to their mind s 
and hearts. For the time being, at least, he sees with 
their eyes, and he feels with their hearts, and hence 
his words, coming to his hearers, as they do, redolent 
of tender sympathy — of honest, kindly, nay, even if 
you will, of human interest and love— are simply irre- 
sistible. Thus, having spoken to the minds, and gained 
the hearts, of his hearers, he breathes upon them the 
breath of that life which is born of the Gospel of 
Christ, and gains them most surely and most power- 
fully to the high and the holy end which has been 



198 



EXTEMPORARY PREACHING. 



before him from the first : he crushes their errors, he 
roots out and annihilates their vices, he leads them, 
trampling their sins and passions under foot the while, 
from the very door of hell to the gates of the kingdom 
of God. Such is the triumph of the popular preacher, 
of the man who knows how to seize his audience in the 
best meaning of the word — of the man who knows not 
only how to reason vigorously and well, but also how 
to bring his subject and his arguments before his hear- 
ers in their most true and their most attractive form, 
vivified and adorned with all those graces which can 
be imparted to them by keen conception, by brilliant 
images and ideas, by chaste and polished language — of 
the man who knows how to animate and brighten his 
spoken words with that strong, resistless element of 
practical application which springs from intimate know- 
ledge of our subject and our audience, from boundless 
zeal for the glory of God, and for the best and the 
holiest interests of those to whom he speaks. And 
what a different result is this from that which attends 
so many of the sermons which are delivered now-a- 
days ! — sermons which are nothing more than dreary 
metaphysical essays, interlarded here and there with 
a few texts from Scripture — sermons in which the 
preacher not unfrequently becomes hopelessly lost in 
the confusion of his own ideas, whilst the audience, 



HOW TO SEIZE THE AUDIENCE. 



199 



utterly despairing of following him into the lofty regions 
whither he has soared away, either quietly compose 
themselves to sleep, or Listen, with what patience they 
may, until it shall please him once more to descend 
to their own more humble level ! 

It is, of course, much more easy to dwell upon the 
necessity to a popular preacher of this power of ampli- 
fication than to show precisely in what it consists, or 
how it is to be acquired. Much will depend upon the 
grasp of mind possessed by the speaker ; much upon 
his readiness of speech, the copia verborum which is 
the fruit of great practice and constant exercise in 
writing and speaking; most of all, perhaps, upon his 
thoroughly practical knowledge of his people, his warm 
interest in their welfare, the presence of that zeal 
which is ever prompting him to speak in season and 
out of season, and of that sound common sense which 
ever restrains his zeal within the limits of prudence 
and moderation, ever teaches him how to say the 
right thing at the right time and in the right way. 

But, whilst much must necessarily be left to indivi- 
dual taste, capacity, and genius, in such a matter as 
this, still, there are certain general principles which 
the young preacher will do well to bear in mind, and 
which ought to dominate, or, at least, to direct, his efforts 
in the way of amplification, or, popular preaching. 



200 



EXTEMPORARY PREACHING. 



And, in the first place, he will certainly never lose 
sight of the great and important truth, that the germ 
of all genuine eloquence is contained in the thought to 
be expressed, and not in the mere words by which it is 
sought to be realized. It is not easy to get many 
preachers to believe, or, at all events, to act upon this 
principle ; but it is true, nevertheless. Thought and 
sentiment, not words or speech, constitute eloquence, 
and, most of all, popular eloquence. The true orator 
is as much under the necessity of employing spoken 
words as the mere impostor or the empty charlatan. 
But there is as vast a difference between the two as 
between the result of their speech. The one — forget- 
ful or heedless of the great principle laid down by St. 
Augustine :* Non doctor verbis serviat, sed verba doc- 
tori — is vastly solicitous about the words he employs, 
vastly solicitous to please his audience, to tickle their 
ears by his affected elegance and his sounding phrases, 
whilst he bestows very little attention upon, and has 
very little real care about the idea which is contained, 
or is supposed to be contained, in these high-flown sen- 
tences. After listening to such a man the judgment 
you are compelled to pass upon him is probably this — 
that he said very nicely what he had to say, but that, 



*"De Doctrina Christiana," lib. 14, chap. 61. 



HOW TO SEIZE THE AUDIENCE. 



201 



in reality, he had nothing to say. On the other hand, 
the true orator employs words, perhaps as copiously as 
the speaker to whom we have just referred; but in 
every case he merely employs the word in order to 
express an idea. In every case the mere word is sub- 
servient to the idea. Hence, the speaker is forgotten 
in the words which he utters, the words are forgotten 
in the ideas which they express, and the result is elo- 
quent and successful speech. One of these men is the 
master and ruler of his words, the other is their ser- 
vant and their slave. One of these men, directing his 
whole care and solicitude to the mere elaboration of 
his words and the trimming of his sentences, may, per- 
haps, succeed in pleasing for the moment, although he 
will never succeed in persuading his people that he is 
a man of God, or in producing any real or permanent 
effect. The other, far too deeply impressed with the 
dignity of his office, and the greatness of the interests 
at stake, to carry his own narrow views, his own petty 
interests, his own wretched vanity and self-seeking, into 
the pulpit with him, does not seek to please the ear 
but to change the heart; not to amuse and distract 
those amongst his hearers who may be sick unto death, 
but to cure and to save them. He does not disdain to 
employ those ornaments of language which may become 
his subject and his style of preaching, but he never 



202 



EXTEMPORARY PREACHING. 



uses them for their own sake alone. If he employ 
them, it is to preach Christ and Him crucified ; it is in 
order to bring the great truths of Faith more vividly 
and more powerfully home to the minds and the hearts 
of his hearers ; and the success of his efforts is in direct 
proportion to the purity of his intention and the warmth 
of his zeal. Hence it is, that whilst the earnest 
preacher will certainly aspire to reason vigorously and 
well, to clothe his arguments in the most just and 
beautiful form of words, to present them in all their 
varied aspects to his people, he will be equally careful 
never to push the amplification of his discourse beyond 
its proper limit, and never to employ it except when it 
will render what he says more clear, more solid, more 
effective — except when it will cause his sermon to grow 
in interest and in force. Hence it is, that he will ever 
guard himself most carefully against becoming a mere 
spin -text, or a mere vapid talker. Hence it is, that he 
will ever carefully distinguish between true fecundity 
and empty diffusiveness ; between that true fecundity 
which is the result of a deep and earnest meditation of 
our subject, and that diffusiveness which merely seeks 
to hide the absence of thought under a cloud of soul- 
less words and meaningless phrases. 

If it be true that the source of all real and genuine 
eloquence is to be found in the thought to be conveyed, 



HOW TO SEIZE THE AUDIENCE. 



203 



in the sentiment to be expressed, does it not follow 
that everything which contributes towards the cultiva- 
tion of a man's taste, which helps to elevate his style, 
to render him a man of pure mind and of deep feeling, 
to ennoble and dignify the whole range of his ideas 
and the whole tenor of his life, helps at the same time 
to cultivate and develop those faculties which are 
brought most prominently into play when he addresses 
his fellow-men — those faculties upon whose perfect cul- 
tivation and development so much of his success de- 
pends ? And does it not follow, with equal clearness, 
that, as the foundation of all true eloquence is to be 
found in the thought to be expressed, so, deep and pro- 
found meditation of our subject and oar audience will 
furnish the only safe source of all genuine amplification. 

For, if no mere collection of words, however eloquent, 
no mere heaping up of phrases, however polished, can 
ever constitute useful or effective amplification of an 
argument, it follows that amplification will only be 
genuine just in proportion as it is a useful or neces- 
sary development of that argument. Hence, all true 
amplification, as all solid reasoning, must have its foun- 
dation in deep and earnest thought. The man who 
would amplify with effect must return again and again 
to the very viscera of his argument for the happy 
thoughts and the felicitous illustrations with which to 



204 



EXTEMPORARY PREACHING. 



develop it. Buffon remarks that it is only by means 
of profound meditation, and of deep and earnest thought, 
that the mind of man is made truly fruitful. If this 
be so, does it not necessarily follow, that the man who 
would speak eloquently and well upon any subject, 
must study that subject with all his heart and soul, and 
strive his very utmost to realize it in all its varied 
bearings, in all its fruitful application. He must 
fathom its lowest depths. He must realize the most 
minute details which are proper to it, the special cir- 
cumstances which give it a life and character of its 
own. He must study how to bring out these circum- 
stances and details in the most striking and most lively 
colours. He must strive to discover what turns of ex- 
pression, what figures of speech, what contrasts or com- 
parisons, what inductions and conclusions, what accu- 
mulation of ideas, or what careful working out of leading 
thoughts, will contribute most powerfully, most clearly, 
and most effectually to the true development of his 
subject, to the vivid realization of those substantial 
details and those leading circumstances which, as we 
have just said, animate and give it life. Just in pro- 
portion as he succeeds in this will he succeed in clothing 
the bare skeleton of his discourse in vigorous, breathing, 
living flesh and muscle. 

But — and this brings us back again to a great prin- 



HOW TO SEIZE THE AUDIENCE. 



205 



ciple which has been asserted more than once already — 
he will not succeed in this unless he be a man of study 
and reflection ; a man to whom the habit of thought 
and of studious labour is as familiar as his daily bread. 
The mind of a thoughtless, heedless man — the mind 
which is poured out upon a thousand petty frivolities, 
and distracted by a thousand petty cares — will never 
be the fountain to produce those noble thoughts, those 
sublime ideas, those keen and generous sympathies, 
which sway the minds and hearts of other men. Fene- 
lon remarks with great force that the failure of many 
preachers, of men not deficient in natural talent and 
ability, is to be traced to their want of study, and to 
that ignorance which is its natural result. Such men 
never acquired, or have forgotten, if they ever acquired 
it, that solid fund of professional knowledge, as we may 
call it, and of sound information, which are simply 
essential to the Christian orator, and without which he 
must be unprepared to speak. Such ready accurate 
knowledge, such a fund of exact and solid information, 
cannot be acquired in an hour. It must be the fruit of 
a life of study. Men attempt to speak without possess- 
ing this fund of information, and, hence, having no 
foundation to fall back upon, they speak at random 
and without effect. It may be that they know how to 
speak, but they have nothing to say. Possessing no 



206 



EXTEMPORARY PREACHING. 



ready and expedite knowledge of the principles of sound 
philosophy or of Gospel teaching, they only succeed in 
emasculating the grandest ideas and the most sublime 
truths. By their most brilliant phrases, and their most 
ingenious figures of speech, they never succeed in dis- 
guising the innate and repulsive deformity of the dead 
body which they labour to clothe in these gaudy gar- 
ments. They never succeed in making these dry bones 
live ; probably they never even succeed in galvanizing 
and imparting to them a momentary semblance of life 
and vitality. They never succeed in breathing the 
breath of life into that lifeless frame. Spite of their 
ill-directed efforts to animate and give it being, it re- 
mains cold and dead to the end. These are the men 
of whom it has been bitterly written — that they have 
nothing to say, and they say it. And, what, perhaps, 
is most painful of all, is, that many men who were des- 
tined by God and nature to become true orators — men 
who begin well, and whose after-career promises to be 
great and glorious — end in this miserable way simply 
because, when they have once acquired that gift, which 
is too often fatal to its possessor, a great facility of 
speech, they give up the habit of study, the habit of 
careful and studious reading, without which no man, 
how great soever his talents or his natural gifts may 
be, will ever continue to be really and truly elo- 



HOW TO SEIZE THE AUDIENCE. 



207 



quent, will ever be able to speak with force and effect 
to a body of intelligent, educated, and thoughtful men. 

Yes, the source of all genuine amplification must be 
found in deep and earnest study of our subject. But 
this study must not be a mere study of our subject in 
the abstract. It must be taken in the concrete ; that 
is to say, the subject of the discourse must be studied 
face to face, in all its bearings and all its varied rela- 
tions, to the audience to whom it is to be addressed. 
It is easy enough, or, at all events, it is not so very 
difficult, to speak of things in general — to treat an 
abstract subject in a vague and abstract way. But 
such speaking will never be eloquent. The only true 
eloquence is that in which one man speaks, out of the 
depths of his own heart and soul, to the living, breath- 
ing, individual men who sit at his feet, waiting to be 
taught, waiting to learn whether he who undertakes to 
teach them has fathomed the depths of their spiritual 
wants, the violence of their passions, the keenness of 
their temptations, the weakness of their faint and trem- 
bling souls, the reality and special characteristics of the 
conflict in which they are engaged, the special means 
by which they, the individual men who listen to him, 
are, if ever, to gain the victory — alas ! how dubious and 
uncertain — upon which so much depends. 

Hence it is that so much of the success of popular 



208 



EXTEMPORARY PREACHING. 



preaching, of genuine amplification, will ever be mea- 
sured by the force and reality with which the preacher 
is able to apply his subject, and bring it home practi- 
cally, and, so to speak, individually, to his hearers. The 
following sketch of a popular preacher illustrates our 
meaning in a striking manner :* — 

" He spoke from his own nature to the nature of 
others. He was himself a most inartificial man. He 
knew human nature welL He studied it in himself 
and in others. He knew man, how he thinks, and feels, 
and acts. He drew his knowledge not from copies and 
books, but from the living original. Men felt when they 
heard him, that they were listening to a preacher who 
knew not only books and theories and systems, but 
humanity, both in its fallen and its restored state — in its 
wants, woes, diseases, remedies, and varieties ; one who 
could sympathize with them as well as teach them. 
When on a Sunday morning they came worn and weary 
with the trials, toils, and cares of the six days' labour, and 
placed themselves under the sound of his mellifluous 
voice, they felt sure of not being tantalized and dis- 
appointed with a cold intellectualism, or a mere logical 
demonstration, or a metaphysical abstraction, or a wordy 

* " Papers on Preaching by a Wykehamist," p. 230. 



HOW TO SEIZE THE AUDIENCE. 209 

nothing, which would have given them a stone when 
they asked for bread ; or with something religiously 
poetic, which would have been offering them flowers 
when they wanted meat ; but he fed them with food 
convenient for them, and satisfied the cravings of their 
nature with what satisfied his own." 

To be able to speak in this manner we must know our 
people thoroughly and well. We must be in continual 
and kindly intercourse with them. We must have a 
lively interest in their welfare, a great anxiety to 
procure their advancement in the service of God, a 
generous enthusiasm in aiding them to overcome and 
conquer their passions and vices. We must be the 
Pastors of our people in the fullest and truest meaning 
of the word, and we must never forget that we, Catholic 
priests, enjoy advantages in. this respect which are 
peculiar to ourselves, and which, if they be properly 
employed, must necessarily give a practical and most 
powerful direction to our efforts which no other body of 
men can ever hope to possess. 



15 



CHAPTER XVI. 



WORD PAINTING — ITS FORCE, ITS EMPLOYMENT, AND 
ITS PROPER PLACE IN POPULAR PREACHING! — HOW 
IT MAY BE ABUSED — FATHER PAUL SEGNERI — ROW- 
LAND HILL — DR. NEWMAN, ETC. 

LTHOUGH the germ of all true and genuine 
eloquence is contained in the thought to be con- 
veyed, rather than in the words in which it is expressed ; 
although the spoken word will depend for much of its 
actual effect upon the warmth, earnestness, and internal 
feeling of him who speaks ; it is no less true that the 
popular preacher must be able to paint with vividness 
those sentiments which he feels so deeply, that he must 
be a master of that power of minute and graphic descrip- 
tion which is technically called " word-painting." 

In this, more, perhaps, than in anything else, the true 
orator, the finished workman, is distinguished from the 
mere journeyman. The latter contents himself with a 
bare enunciation of the facts, or incidents, which he 
desires to express : as, for example : Christ was scourged 



WORD PAINTING, ITS USE AND ABUSE. 211 



at the pillar and died upon a cross for our sins. The 
former, concentrating all the powers of his intellect and 
his imagination upon the scene or action which he 
desires to depict ; studying deeply the various circum- 
stances of time, place, and person which may be most 
intimately connected with it; at length succeeds in 
obtaining a vivid and life-like conception of the sub- 
ject of his contemplation, a conception so vivid and 
life-like indeed, as to render his thoughts, so to speak, 
tangible and real, and to give to the " airy nothings " 
of his own mental creation " a local habitation and a 
name." But, he does more than this. Having suc- 
ceeded, in the first place, in obtaining for himself this 
vivid and life-like conception of the action or scene 
which is before his mind, he proceeds to paint the crea- 
tions of his imagination in " spoken words," and he does 
this with such a happy fulness of expression, with such 
. ,a keen, direct, and pointed application of the terms 
which he employs, with such a depth of inward feeling 
manifesting itself in the tones of his voice, in the move- 
ments of his countenance, in the very deportment of his 
frame, as to produce an almost irresistible effect upon 
his hearers. Every circumstance, every detail, the very 
words of the actor, are painted with such a reality and 
a vivid power as to bring the whole scene before the 
audience in the most natural and striking manner 



212 



EXTEMPORARY PREACHING. 



The present is forgotten in the description of the past ; 
time and space are annihilated by the spell of the 
orator's words. As Dr. Newman says so beautifully, 
" he speaks not only distincte and splendide, but also 
apte. He writes passionately, because he feels keenly ; 
forcibly, because he conceives vividly. When his im- 
agination wells up, it overflows in ornament ; when his 
heart is touched, it thrills along his verse. He always 
has the right word for the right idea, and never a word 
too much. If he is brief, it is because few words suffice ; 
if he is lavish of them, still each word has its mark, and 
aids, not embarrasses, the vigorous march of his elocu- 
tion. He expresses what all feel, but all cannot say." 

And when we remember that a sermon is, of its 
nature, a persuasive oration, it must at once be evident 
that this true " copia verborum" this faculty of graphic 
description, is essentially necessary to the successful 
orator. The persuasive oration depends for its success, 
as we have already seen, upon the force and effect with 
which it is able to appeal to the feelings of men, and 
move their hearts and wills most efficaciously. But, as 
the feelings or passions are only, as a general rule, 
efficaciously moved by bringing their proper objects 
before them in a striking and vigorous manner, it fol- 
lows that the persuasive oration must ultimately depend, 
for a very considerable portion of its success, upon the 



WORD PAINTING, ITS USE AND ABUSE. 



213 



manner in which these objects are painted by the orator, 
and presented to his hearers. And it is equally plain 
that he will best succeed in this who, possessing the 
most intimate knowledge of the human heart and of 
the springs by which it is directed and governed, is best 
able to depict, in living and spoken words, those varied 
circumstances which surround the objects of the passions, 
and give them their reality and their human interest. 
In other words, no man will ever be a popular orator 
who cannot successfully manage and depict the varied 
details which make up the sum of human life, with all 
its hopes, and joys, and fears — who cannot paint in vivid, 
glowing, or pathetic terms, the varied circumstances 
which give the objects of the passions their life and 
being* 

It is scarcely necessary to say that the popular preach- 
ers of every age were men who fully recognized the 
necessity of graphic speaking, and who excelled in that 
power of description, that power of expressing vivid 
thoughts in vivid words, which we call word-painting. 
And anyone who would judge for himself what con- 
summate artists the early and the mediasval church 
possessed in such men as St. Chrysostom, St. Basil, St. 
Augustine, St. Bernard, St. Anthony of Padua, St. 



* " Sacred Eloquence." Chap. ix. sec. i. 2. 



214 



EXTEMPORARY PREACHING. 



Bonaventure, St. Gall, St. Bernardine of Sienna, St. 
Francis of Assissi, St. Dominic, and a host of others, will 
find a fund of truly interesting information in the fifth 
book of the second volume of that most learned, and, in 
many respects, most wonderful book, the " Mores Oa- 
th olici, or Ages of Faith." As we read of the mar- 
vellous gifts of eloquence which God had bestowed upon 
some of these saintly men, we are not astonished to 
learn that it often seemed to the simple folk of these 
ages of faith as if they could hear the voices of the idols, 
which they had broken and cast into the flames at the 
word of the preacher, wailing over the tops of the 
mountains, or dying away in plaintive murmurs amid 
the impenetrable shadows of their gloomy woods and 
forests. Still less are we astonished to learn that twenty 
thousand persons, after hastening by night to secure 
places in the field in which St. Anthony of Padua was to 
preach, should, after his sermon, have committed to the 
flames immense piles of wicked books, cards, and other 
objects of licentiousness, of great price and of most costly 
description. Truly, these were triumphs of popular 
preaching ! triumphs of men who knew how to utter 
great thoughts in great and burning, though, perhaps, 
in plain and homely words. 

What should we think now-a-days, and what effect 
would it produce upon us, if a man with the intense 



WORD PAINTING, ITS USE AND ABUSE. 



215 



earnestness, the plain blunt outspokenness, of Father 
Paul Segneri, were to present himself to one of the 
dainty, perfumed, over-dressed, luxurious congregations 
of the nineteenth century, and address them in such 
words as the following, which are extracted from two 
of his well-known sermons, one on hell, and the other 
on the danger of sin : — * 

"What else, after all, have I this morning to do, 
than 9 pour forth two copious streams of inconsolable 
grief for the many souls who see hell open before them, 
and yet do not draw back, but boldly press on to launch 
themselves into its flames ? Ah, no : stop, ye wretched 
beings, for a moment ; stop — and before plunging with 
a headlong leap into that abyss, let me demand of you 
in the words of the same Isaiah : Which of you can 
dwell with the devouring fire ? Which of you can 
dwell with everlasting burnings? (xxxiii. 14. Yulg). 
Excuse me, my people. For this once thou art not to 
leave the church, unless thou hast first made a satisfac- 
tory reply to my question — Which of you can dwell 
with everlasting burnings ? What sayest thou, O 
lady, who art so tender in cherishing thy flesh ? Canst 

* The " Quaresimale " of P. Paolo Segneri, translated 
from the original Italian, by James Ford, A.M., Prebendary 
of Exeter Cathedral. 



216 



EXTEMPORARY PREACHING. 



thou dwell with everlasting burnings'! Now thou 
canst not bear it, if the point of a needle at thy work 
lightly stain thy delicate skin. How thinkest thou 
then ? Wilt thou be able to endure those terrific en- 
gines, by which thou must feel thyself dismembered, 
disjointed, and with an everlasting butchery crushed 
into powder ? What sayest thou, O man, who art so 
intent on providing for thy personal comforts ? Canst 
thou dwell with everlasting burnings 1 Now thou 
canst not tolerate the breath of a poor man, who by 
coming near thee offends in the least thy organs of 
smell. Wilt thou be able to stand those foul stenches, 
by which thou must feel thyself poisoned, stifled, and 
with an everlasting suffocation pressed down to the 
ground ? And thou, what sayest thou for thyself, O 
priest, who art so negligent in the discharge of thy 
duties ? Canst thou dwell with everlasting burnings ? 
Now thou art not able to remain in the choir of thy 
church a single hour without indecently looking about 
thee, without being restless, without indulging thy 
tongue in every kind of gossip : how then does it strike 
thee ? Wilt thou be able to remain through all the 
ages of eternity, I say, not reclining on thy elegantly 
carved stall, but rather stretched out on an iron frame- 
work on a flaming couch, there to be listening to the 
demons' howls ringing in thy ears ? What sayest thou* 



WORD PAINTING, ITS USE AND ABUSE. 217 



0 glutton ? What sayest thou, 0 slanderer ? What 
say est thou, 0 libertine ? — thou young man, indulging 
thyself so wantonly in all thy heart's desires ? Canst 
thou dwell with everlasting burnings f Alas ! who, 
who among us can ? And yet, why do I thus enlarge on 
the case of other people ? Excuse me : of myself, of 
myself I ought to speak ; of myself, an ecclesiastic, it 
is true, as cannot be denied from my dress, and yet a 
wretched creature, so unmortified, so impetuous, so vain, 
and so averse to that true penitence which my sins call 
for ! If I am not able to remain for a short time before 
the presence of my Lord in tears for my sins, if I 
am so fond of my own ease, if I am so studious of 
my own reputation, how can I hereafter, wretch that 

1 am, stand for ever and ever at the feet of Lucifer, 
the place assigned to such as me ; to such, as, having 
undertaken to confer benefits on other men, and been 
gifted accordingly for that purpose with so much light, 
knowledge, and many endowments, have betrayed my 
word by my actions ? Ah, Lord ! have pity, have pity. 
We have sinned ; we know it ; we confess it. " We 
have done ungodly, we have dealt unrighteously in all 
thy ordinances " (Baruch. ii. 12). And therefore we can- 
not make bold to ask Thee not to punish us. Punish us, 
then, since we well deserve it. Reward the proud after 
their deserving (Ps. xciv. 2). Only, in Thine infinite 
mercy, may it please Thee not to sentence our souls to 



218 



EXTEMPORAEY PKEACHING. 



hell. 0 hell! 0 hell! the mere mention of thee is enough 
to overwhelm us with horror." — Torments of Hell. 

The other extract, which is no less powerful than the 
one just quoted, is taken from the introduction to his 
sermon on Ash Wednesday. It commences in the fol- 
lowing terribly earnest language : — 

" I come before you, my respected hearers, to deliver 
a most mournful message. The thought only of what I 
have to tell you strikes a cold chill at my heart through 
intense horror. And yet, what good can come of my si- 
lence ? or, what would concealment avail ? I will at once 
declare my message. All here present, whether young or 
old, masters or servants, nobles or commoners, all of you 
must at last die ! It is appointed unto all men once 
to die. (Heb. ix. 27.) Alas ! what do I behold ? On 
hearing so tremendous an announcement, not one among 
you is moved : not one of you changes colour : not one 
of you looks altered. So far from it, I cannot but per- 
ceive that you are secretly inclined rather to regard me 
under a ludicrous aspect, as a person coming here to pass 
off, as something new, a story that has been told you 
over and over again. And where is the man, you ask 
me, who at this time of day does not know that we must 
all die ? What man is he that liveth, and shall not see 
death ? (Ps. lxxxix. 47.) This is what we are continu- 



WORD PAINTING, ITS USE AND ABUSE. 



219 



ally hearing from so many pulpits : this is what we are 
continually reading on so many tombs : this is what so 
many corpses, though silent, are continually sounding in 
our ears. In short, this is something we know already. — 
Do you know this 1 How is it possible you should ? 
Why, tell me ; are you not the very same persons who 
only yesterday were running about the city in all the 
gaiety of your Carnival, some representing the lover, some 
the maniac, some the parasite ? Are you not the same 
persons who joined with such eagerness in the dance, 
who allowed yourselves the excess of dissipation, who 
acted like so many senseless heathens in giving your- 
selves over to licentiousness ? Was it you, then, who 
were sitting with such evident delight at the theatres ? 
Was it you who were speaking so rapturously in the 
boxes ? Answer me. I ask you, did you not pass this 
night, the night before Ash- Wednesday, in riotous self- 
indulgence, and in all the common amusements of 
worldly life and society — would to heaven, that it may 
not have been even in pleasures still less suited to your 
characters ? And, while you behave in this manner, do 
you still pretend to know for a certainty that you must 
die ? Oh, what blindness ! Oh, what insensibility ! 
Oh, what madness ! Oh, what wickedness ! . . . How- 
ever, for the sake of argument, I will suppose that you 
do in some sense know this : I will even give you credit 



220 



EXTEMPORARY PREACHING. 



for freely confessing it. Remember, 0 man ! remember 
that thou art dust I Here, then, I have the very thing 
I desire of you : for it will now be my business to prove 
how daring is the presumption of those, who, while they 
acknowledge this truth, live one single moment in deadly 
sin." — Danger of Sin. 

We may easily imagine the horror, the surprise, and, 
most likely, the indignation with which one of ourfashion- 
able audiences would listen to such words as these. 
There are few preachers now-a-days who, even if they 
possessed the power, would dare to utter them. Perhaps 
the nearest approach to this terribly plain, practical, 
earnest speaking which our day has produced, is to be 
found in Dr. Newman's powerful sermon on " The Ne- 
glect of Divine Calls and Warnings," where he describes 
in words which are appalling by their earnest plainness, 
their terrible point and application, the career in life, 
and the death of the easy -living, comfortable, careless 
Christian, who, in the cant of the day, lives respected 
and beloved, and dies universally lamented, to be buried 
for eternity in the flames of hell. 

Nor has the appreciation of this great principle, the 
absolute necessity to the orator of graphic description, 
and of plain popular modes of speech, been confined to 
the preachers of the Catholic Church. It is one of those 



WORD PAINTING, ITS USE AND ABUSE. 221 



truths which all men who aim at popular and effective 
speaking necessarily feel, but which only the favoured 
few are able to realise in their perfection and fulness. 
No doubt it was this principle which influenced the grim 
Puritans to bestow such quaint, and, oftentimes, coarse 
titles upon the works by which they sought to influence 
the minds and hearts of the men of their day. Hence, 
when we read of "Baruch's Sore gently opened and 
the salve skilfully applied ;" " The Snuffers of Divine 
Love;" "The Spiritual Mustard Pot to make Souls sneeze 
with Devotion ;" " A Pack of Cards to win Christ ;" 
" High Heeled-shoes for Limping Christians ;" etc., etc., 
we can understand at once the principle upon which the 
writers of these extravagant pamphlets acted, and the 
motives by which they were governed, in the selection of 
such extraordinary titles ; but we can note with equal 
readiness the absence of that good taste, and of that 
refining influence, which true religion and education 
can alone impart. 

The Rev. E. P. Hood, in his " Lamps, Pitchers, and 
Trumpets,"* a very able and most interesting work, 
although disfigured by some unnecessary and uncalled- 
for sneers against Popery and Rome, tells an amusing 

* " Lamps, Pitchers, and Trumpets," by Edward Paxton 
Hood. London : Jackson, Walford, and Hodder, Pater- 
noster-row. 



222 



EXTEMPOEAEY PEEACHING. 



story, which illustrates so pointedly the grave mistakes 
into which plain-speaking, when not refined by educa- 
tion, and elevated by the sanctifying influences of a 
religious training, may lead even honest, earnest men, 
that we quote it at full length : — 

" It may be sixty years since there frequently came 
to Bristol a well known Calvinistic Methodist preacher 
of that day — in a day when flattering titles were not 
very lavishly distributed — called Sammy Breeze by the 
multitudes who delighted in his ministry. He came 
periodically from the mountains of Cardiganshire, and 
spoke with tolerable efficiency in English. Our friend 
was in the chapel when, as was not unusual, two minis- 
ters, Sammy Breeze and another, were to preach. The 
other took the first place — a young man with some 
tints of academical training, and some of the livid 
lights of a then only incipient BatioDalism on his mind. 
He took for his text — "He that believeth shall be 
saved, and he that believeth not shall be damned;" 
but he condoned the heavy condemnation, and, in an 
affected manner, shaded off the darkness of the doom 
of unbelief, very much in the style of another preacher, 
who told his hearers that he ' feared lest they should 
be doomed to a place which good manners forbade him 
from mentioning.' The young man also grew senti- 



WOKD PAINTING, ITS USE AND ABUSE. 



223 



mental, and begged pardon of an audience rather more 
polite than usual, for the sad statement made in the 
text. 'But, indeed,' said he, 'he that believeth shall 
be saved, and he that believeth not — indeed, I regret 
to say, I beg your pardon for uttering the terrible 
truth — but indeed he shall be sentenced to a place 
which here I dare not mention.' Then rose Sammy 
Breeze. He began — C I shall take the same text to- 
night which you have just heard. Our young friend 
has been fery foine to-night; he has told you some 
very polite things. I am not fery foine,. and I am not 
polite ; but I will preach a little bit of Gospel to you, 
which is this — " He that believeth shall be saved, and 
he that believeth not shall be tamned," and I begs no 
pardons.' He continued — 'I do look round on this 
chapel, and I do see people all fery learned and intel- 
lectual. You do read books, and you do study studies, 
and fery likely you do think that you can mend God's 
Book, and are fery sure you can mend me. You have 
great — what you call thoughts — and poetries. But I 
will tell you one little word, and you must not try to 
mend that — but if you do it will be all the same. It 
is this, look you — " He that believeth shall be saved, 
and he that believeth not shall be tamned," and I begs 
no pardons. And then I do look round your chapel, 
and I do see you are fine people, well dressed people, well- 



224 



EXTEMPORARY PREACHING. 



to-do people. You are not only pious, but you have 
fery fine hymn-books and cushions, and some red cur- 
tains, for I do see you are fery rich, and you have got 
your moneys, and are getting fery proud. But I will 
tell you it does not matter at all, and I do not mind it 
at all — not one little bit — for I must tell you the truth, 
and the truth is — " He that believeth shall be saved, 
and he that believeth not shall be tamned," and I begs 
no pardons. And now,' continued the preacher, ( you 
will say to me, " What do you mean by talking to us in 
this way ? Who are you, sir V And now I will tell 
you I am Pilly Preeze. I have come from the moun- 
tains of Cardiganshire on my Master's business, and 
His message I must deliver. If you will never hear 
me again, I shall not matter much ; but while you 
shall hear me you shall hear me, and this is His word 
to me, and in me to you — " He that believeth shall be 
saved, and he that believeth not shall be tamned," and 
I begs no pardons' But the scene in the pulpit was a 
trifle to the scene in the vestry. There the deacons 
were in a state of great anger with the blunt teacher ; 
and one, the relative — we believe the ancestor — of a 
well-known religious man in Bristol, exclaimed — f Mr. 
Breeze, you have strangely forgotten yourself to-night, 
sir. We did not expect that you would have behaved 
in this way. We have always been very glad to see 



WORD PAINTING, ITS USE AND ABUSE. 



225 



you in our pulpit ; but your sermon to-night, sir, has 
been most insolent — shameful.' He wound up a pretty 
smart condemnation by saying — 'In short, I don't 
understand you.' ' Ho ! ho ! What ! you say you don't 
understand me. Eh ! look you then, I will tell you I 
do understand you. Up in our mountains, we have 
one man there, we do call him exciseman. He comes 
along to our shops and stores, and says, " What have 
you here ? Anything contraband here V And if it is 
all right, the good man says, " Step in, Mr. Exciseman ; 
come in, look you." He is all fair, and open, and 
above-board. But if he has anything secreted there, 
he does draw back surprised, and he makes a fine face, 
and says, " Sir, I don't understand you." Now you do 
tell me you don't understand me ; but I do understand 
you, gentlemen — I do ; and I do fear you have some- 
thing contraband here. And now I will say good-night 
to you ; but I must tell you one little word — that is : 
"He that believeth shall be saved, and he that be- 
lieveth not shall be tamned;" and I begs no par ^ 
dons}" 

We have no more reason to doubt that Sammy 

Breeze was quite in earnest, than that he was a master 

of the art of plain and graphic speaking. But it is very 

evident that plain speaking in this case was carried 

16 



226 



EXTEMPORARY PREACHING. 



beyond all due limit, and that the speaker was guilty 
t of violations of good taste and propriety which were 
not condoned by the directness and point of his speech, 
and which a man of liberal education and refined mind 
would not have committed. 

Few men were more talked about in their day, or 
acquired a greater name, at least amongst a certain 
class, for eloquent plain-speaking, than Kowland Hill. 
And, yet, few men were ever responsible for more 
violent attacks upon good taste, or were more forgetful 
of that gravity and decorum of speech which alone 
become the minister of God, and the Gospel which he 
preaches. Few men ever said, as few would have the 
courage to attempt to say, so many " good things " in 
the pulpit ; but we are compelled to add that the 
majority of these good things would have better become 
the mouth of a jester than of a minister of the Gospel; 
and that, although they might have graced a dinner 
table, they were sadly out of place in a Christian pulpit. 
To say nothing of his well-known charity-sermon jokes, 
about hanging all the misers in the congregation up 
by the heels, that the money might run out of their 
pockets into the plates, etc., etc., what could be in 
worse taste than the following illustration of the state 
of the unconverted sinner, which we have also taken 
from Mr. Hood's work : — 



WORD PAINTING, ITS USE AND ABUSE. 227 

" The mere professor reminds me of a sow that I saw 
two hours ago luxuriating in her stye when almost over 
head and ears in the mire. Now, suppose any of you 
were to take Bess (the sow) and wash her, and suppose 
after having dressed her in a silk gown, and put a smart 
cap upon her head, you were to take her into any ot 
your parlours, and were to set her down to tea in com- 
pany, she might look very demure for a time, and 
might not give even a single grunt; but you would 
observe that she occasionally gave a sly look towards 
the door, which showed that she felt herself in an un- 
comfortable position; and the moment she perceived 
that the door was open she would give another proof of 
the fact by running out of the room as fast as she 
could. Follow the sow, with her silk gown and her 
fancy cap, and in a few seconds you will find that she 
has returned to her stye, and is again wallowing in the^ 
mire. Just so it is with the unrenewed man : sin is 
his element; and though he may be induced from a 
variety of motives to put on at times a show of religion, 
you will easily perceive that he feels himself to be 
under unpleasant restraints, and that he will return to 
his sins, whenever an opportunity of doing so, unknown 
to his acquaintances, presents itself to him." 

Compare this undignified language, which is as coarse 



228 



EXTEMPORARY PREACHING. 



as it is unbecoming, with the following magnificent spe- 
cimens of powerful and graphic word-painting : — 

" There was a blood-shedding once, which did all 
other sheddings of blood by far outvie ; it was 
a man — a God — that shed his blood. Come and 
see it! Here is a garden, dark and gloomy; the 
ground is crisp with the cold frost of midnight: 
between those gloomy olive-trees I see a man, I 
hear him groan out his life in prayer ; hearken angels, 
hearken men, and^ wonder ; it is the Saviour groaning 
out his soul. Come and see him. Behold his brow ! 
O heavens ! drops of blood are streaming down his face 
and from his body ; every pore is open, and it ' sweats !' 
but not the sweat of men that toil for bread, it is the 
sweat of one that toils for heaven — he ' sweats great 
drops of blood.' This is the blood-shedding without 
which there is no remission. Follow that man farther 
— they have dragged him with sacrilegious hands from 
the place of his prayer and of his agony, and they have 
taken him to the Hall of Pilate ; they seat him in a 
chair and mock him, a robe of purple is put on his 
shoulders in mockery ; and mark his brow — they have 
put about it a crown of thorns, and the crimson drops 
of gore are rushing down his cheeks ! Ye angels ! the 
drops of gore are rushing down on his cheeks. But turn 



WORD PAINTING, ITS USE AND ABUSE. 229 



aside that purple robe for a moment. His back is 
bleeding. Tell me, demons, who did this ? They 
lift up the thongs still dripping clots of gore ; they 
scourge and tear his flesh, and make a river of blood to 
run down his shoulders ! That is the shedding of blood 
without which there is no remission. Not yet have I 
done : they hurry him through the streets, they fling 
him on the ground, they nail his hands and feet to the 
transverse wood, they hoist it into the air, they dash it 
into its socket, it is fixed, and on it hangs the Christ of 
God ! Why is it that this story doth not make men 
weep ? I told it ill, you say. Ay, so I did ; I will take 
all the blame. But, sirs, if it were told as ill as men 
could speak, were our hearts what they should be, we 
should bleed away our lives in sorrow."* 

The above extract, which is said to be the production of 
a self-educated man, is a beautiful and pathetic piece of 
word-painting ; sharp and clear, and quaint as some 
old Gothic picture that attracts you at once by an in- 
definite charm, the presence of which you keenly and 
intimately feel, but which you know not how to describe. 
In these plain, simple, even rugged words, the suffering 
Saviour is brought before us with a reality which is 



* " Papers on Preaching," by a Wykehamist. 



230 



EXTEMPORARY PREACHING. 



almost painful ; the last few lines of the extract are in- 
imitable, in the simple earnestness, and the tender, but 
unlaboured pathos of their expression. 

We shall conclude these illustrations of the art of 
word-painting, as applied to sacred oratory, by an ex- 
tract from Dr. Newman, who, as Mr. Hood so eloquently 
and truthfully remarks, is " great everywhere, and in 
everything great, with a Michael-Angelo-like greatness, 
struggling, massive, earn est, hurling his books about like 
thunderbolts," and who is specially great in his unri- 
valled power of amplification, a power in which he is 
always charming, but not unfrequently absolutely terri- 
ble by his graphic plainness and directness of speech : — 

" 0 the change, my brethren" — he is describing the 
death-bed of the man who has lost his soul — " the dis- 
mal change at last, when the sentence has gone forth, 
and life ends, and eternal death begins ! The poor 
sinner has gone on so long in sin, that he has forgotten 
he has sin to repent of. He has learned to forget that 
he is living in a state of enmity to God. He no longer 
makes excuses, as he did at first. He lives in the 
world, and believes nothing about the Sacraments 
nor puts any trust in a priest, if he falls in with one 
Perhaps he has hardly ever heard the Catholic religion 
mentioned, except for the purpose of abuse ; and never 



WOED PAINTING, ITS USE AND ABUSE. 231 



has spoken of it but to ridicule it. His thoughts are 
taken up with his family and with his occupation; and 
if he thinks of death, it is with repugnance, as what 
will separate him from this world, not with fear, as 
what will introduce him to another. He has ever been 
strong and hale. He has never had an illness. His 
family is long-lived, and he reckons he has a long time 
before him. His friends die before him, and he feels 
rather contempt at their nothingness, than sorrow at 
their departure. He has just married a daughter, and 
established a son in life, and he thinks of retiring from 
the world, except that he is at a loss to know how he 
shall employ himself when out of it ; and then he begins 
to muse awhile over himself and his prospects, and he 
is sure of one thing, that the Creator is simple and 
mere benevolence, and he is indignant and impatient 
when he hears eternal punishment spoken of. And so 
he fares, whether for a long time or a short ; but what- 
ever the period, it must have an end, and at last the end 
comes. Time has gone forward noiselessly, and comes 
upon him like a thief in the night ; at length the hour 
of doom strikes, and he is taken away. 

" Perhaps, however, he was a Catholic, and then the 
very mercies of God have been perverted by him to his 
ruin. He has rested on the Sacraments, without caring 
to have the proper dispositions for attending them. At 



232 



EXTEMPORARY PREACHING. 



one time he had lived in neglect of religion altogether ; 
but there was a date when he felt a wish to set himself 
right with his Maker ; so he began, and has continued 
ever since, to go to Confession and Communion at con- 
venient intervals. He comes again and again to the 
priest ; he goes through his sins ; the priest is obliged 
to take his account of them, which is a very defective 
account, and sees no reason for not giving him absolu- 
tion. He is absolved, as far as words can absolve him ; 
he comes again to the priest when the season comes 
round ; again he confesses, and again he has the form 
pronounced over him. He falls sick, he receives the 
last Sacraments; he receives the last rites of the Church; 
and he is lost. He is lost, because he has never really 
turned his heart to God ; or, if he had some poor mea- 
sure of contrition for a while, it did not last beyond his 
first or second confession. He soon came to the Sacra- 
ments without any contrition at all; he deceived 
himself, and left out his principal and most important 
sins. Somehow he deceived himself into the notion 
that they were not sins, or not mortal sins ; for some 
reason or other he was silent, and his confession became 
as defective as his contrition. Yet this scanty show of 
religion was sufficient to soothe and stupify his con- 
science ; so he went on year after year, never making a 
good confession, communicating in mortal sin, till he 



WORD PAINTING, ITS USE AND ABUSE. 



233 



fell ill ; and then, I say, the viaticum and holy oil were 
brought to him, and he committed sacrilege for his last 
time — and so he went to his God." — Neglect of Divine 
Calls and Warnings."* 

We venture to think that, as a piece of plain, vivid, 
earnest, terribly earnest description, the above extract 
can scarcely be surpassed. We have quoted it and the 
other extracts contained in this chapter at considerable 
length, because they illustrate much more forcibly than 
any feeble words of ours could do, the nature of word- 
painting, the real power which the possession of it puts 
into the hands of the true orator, and the flagrant abuses 
to which it is liable when treated carelessly, unskilfully, 
or by a man who is ignorant of its scope, its method, 
and its means. We recommend a careful study of these 
extracts to the young preacher, who is honestly anxious 
to distinguish what is true from what is false, the genu- 
ine gold from the glittering tinsel. And it must be a 
matter of honest pride to us, as Catholic priests, to re- 
flect that we possess amongst ourselves men who, whilst 
they are the most perfect models we could propose to 
ourselves for imitation, have supplied us with copious 
writings whose elegance of style, and beauty of diction, 



* " Discourses addressed to Mixed Congregations." 



234 



EXTEMPORARY PREACHING. 



are only equalled by the solidity of their matter, and 
the scrupulous exactness of their doctrinal teaching. 
In Newman, " with his massive greatness," and in Man- 
ning, with " his words persuasive as the air " — to use 
once more the eloquent language of the writer whom we 
have already more than once quoted—" with his words 
sometimes terrible as the air alive with lightnings, or 
auroras, or spectral armies fighting in the clouds," Ave 
possess two masters of sacred eloquence whom we may 
follow with unwavering footsteps, with no misgiving that 
they will lead us into the quagmires of doctrinal error, 
of unclerical levity, or ungentlemanly bad taste. In their 
company we may pluck the rose without any fear of the 
lurking thorn ; we may sip the honey without any ap- 
prehension of imbibing the hidden poison. We cor- 
dially agree with Mr. Hood — it is our pride and our con- 
solation to believe it — that Manning and Newman are 
amongst the most eminent men in England to-day; 
that their writings " contain fountains for many sermons, 
for years of consolation and light ; that many a sermon, 
or even page, may be a consensus for the conscience, for 
the mind, for the faith." But here our agreement with 
Mr. Hood must cease. We cannot express our grief 
with him, " that they are where they are — in Home." 
It seems to us, that when, with the piercing intellects 
and the honest earnest hearts which God had given 



WORD PAINTING, ITS USE AND ABUSE. 235 



them, these great men had fathomed, to its lowest 
depths, the rottenness and insufficiency of the system 
of the rights of the individual and private judgment, in 
which Mr. Hood is proud to rest with such complacent 
thankfulness and satisfaction, Rome became " their legi- 
timate abode " — whatever Mr. Hood may think to the 
contrary. 



CHAPTER XVII. 



HOW TO CONCLUDE — THE DANGER OF UNDULY PRO- 
LONGING THE DISCOURSE— VARIOUS METHODS OF 
CONCLUDING — THE CRISIS OF THE SERMON, HOW IT 
IS TO BE MANAGED, AND THE IMMENSE IMPORTANCE 
OF EMPLOYING IT PROPERLY — RECAPITULATION, ITS 
NATURE AND OBJECTS — THE APPEAL TO THE 
PASSIONS, AND HOW IT IS TO BE CONDUCTED — 
EXAMPLES : MASSILLON, SAINT LIGUORI, SEGNERI, 
MANNING, NEWMAN. 

HE great leading idea which was contained, and 
expressed implicitly or explicitly, in the pro- 
position of his discourse, having been sufficiently ex- 
plained, developed, and maintained by solid argumen- 
tation — having, by the warmth of his eloquence, the 
force of his reasoning, the earnestness of his zeal, won 
every heart, and carried every intellect captive to the 
views which he propounded, and the obligations which 
he laid down — having secured, in one word, the assent 
of his hearers, or, at least, having brought them to that 



HOW TO CONCLUDE THE DISCOTTKSE. 



237 



point, or crisis, in his discourse, in which all that is 
needed is merely the finishing stroke to win their 
assent to those practical deductions, and those special 
applications, which are the necessary and essential 
fruits of every good sermon, the time has arrived for 
the preacher to conclude, and bring his address to a 
becoming close. 

Nothing is more fatal to the success of a discourse 
than to prolong it beyond due limits. "We speak for a 
certain purpose, with a certain object in view. When 
that object has been attained, the motive which urged 
us to speak, and which alone justified our speaking, has 
ceased; and if we attempt to prolong our discourse 
beyond this point we shall, in all probability, address 
an unwilling, a reasonably unwilling, audience, who will 
not fail to let us understand that they are weary of us 
and of our subject, and desire no more of it. 

The skilful orator, therefore, will always keep his 
gaze keenly fixed upon the crisis of his discourse, and 
when that has been successfully secured, will conclude. 
Not unfrequently, of course, the development, or con- 
summation, or, whatever we may please to call it, of 
this crisis, will constitute the principal and most im- 
portant part of the conclusion itself. 

But it may, naturally enough, be asked what is meant 
by the crisis of a discourse ? The answer to this question 



238 



EXTEMPOKAET PKEACHING. 



is contained in the very elementary idea of the nature 
and scope of a sermon, and flows from even the most 
cursory study of these points. 

A sermon, as we have so often said, is, of its nature, 
a persuasive oration, and has for its object the per- 
suading of a certain clearly defined body of men — to wit, 
our audience — to embrace, in certain plain and clearly 
defined circumstances, a certain clearly defined line of 
action. It is supposed that this line of action is one 
which our hearers, if left to themselves, are disinclined 
to adopt. At any rate, we take it for granted that it 
is one which it is our duty to impress upon them by 
every means in our powder, in order that we may win 
their assent, an assent of intellect and of heart, to the 
views which we lay before them. For this end, we urge 
them in the strongest possible manner, and by every 
consideration which seems to us best suited to sway the 
understanding and the will. If we are successful in our 
efforts, a moment must necessarily arise in our discourse 
when it will be evident to us that our victory has been 
won, or is on the very point of being achieved, and 
only waits for the finishing stroke which is to crown 
the victorious assault. This is called the crisis of the 
discourse. It will naturally occur towards what should 
be the conclusion of the sermon. Not unfrequently, it 
is reserved for the very peroration or conclusion of the 



HOW TO CONCLUDE THE DISCOURSE. 239 

address, and, as is evident, must have a very decided 
influence in securing success. 

There is no part of a discourse which requires to be 
so skilfully managed, and so thoroughly studied, as the 
conclusion. This is the decisive moment. The victory 
is to be won now or never. It may be that our hearers 
still hang back. They cannot deny the force of our 
arguments, the strength of our reasoning, the validity 
of our consequences. But, for all that, they still hang 
back, unwilling to make the generous sacrifice which 
God demands at their hands ; or, with hearts hardened 
and seared by long habits of indulgence and disregard 
of the voice of God, they shelter themselves behind a 
thousand petty subterfuges, and invent a thousand 
excuses, false and void of foundation though they be, 
why they should not listen to the voice of the Lord, 
or render obedience to the commands and prayers 
of His minister. It may be that the reason and 
intellect are convinced, and acknowledge the truth, 
but the will remains stubborn and unbending. Per- 
haps, nay, most likely, it wavers. It would fain 
bow before the voice of God, were it not for that 
other voice which raises itself in proud rebellion, a re- 
bellion which, perchance, is all the more insidious and 
deadly because it is built upon the foundations of sen- 
suality and pride. But, whatever the motive may be, 



240 



EXTEMPORARY PREACHING. 



the unregenerate will hangs back, and the preacher feels 
that, unless it can be subdued, broken, discomfited, and 
routed utterly and entirely, all his labour will have been 
lost, all his arguments will have been thrown away, all 
the good seed which he has sown, with so much patient 
labour, and so much tearful hope, will have been 
choked and rendered fruitless by the thorns and briars 
amongst which it has fallen. He feels all this, keenly 
and intensely, as the man who is in earnest about his 
Master's business must ever feel these things ; and he 
knows that the moment for the great assault has ar- 
rived. In these supreme moments, concentrating the 
sacred fire which burns so keenly within his breast, and 
which merely seeks some feeble expression in those 
ardent appeals, those brilliant turns of thought, those 
melting images, those torrents of hot and burning words 
which pour spontaneously from his lips, he throws him- 
self with all his might upon the wavering but still stub- 
born foe. He rushes down upon him with all the 
highest, deepest efforts of his mind and heart, of his 
love and zeal, concentrated on this grand assault. He 
presses the reluctant but faltering will on every side. He 
leaves that will, and the irregular passions upon which 
it relies for its support, no loop-hole for escape. Urging, 
arguing, reasoning, pleading, praying, by every motive 
and by every power through which one man may act 



HOW TO CONCLUDE THE DISCOUESE. 241 

upon another, he presses more and more keenly upon 
his foe, that thus, aided and strengthened by the assist- 
tance of God's supporting grace, he may wring from every 
soul full and unconditional surrender to those arguments 
and those practical conclusions which he has laid before 
them ; that thus, he may draw from penitent and broken 
hearts, those savingtears which are potent enough to wash 
the most deadly sins away ; that thus, he may awaken 
those generous resolutions, and obtain those triumphs 
of conquering grace, which, like a true soldier of Christ, 
he ardently desires to lay at his Master's feet, as the 
pledges of his conflict, the trophies of his fight. 

But, great as the importance of concluding well may 
be, many preachers seem to find it more difficult to do so 
than would at first sight appear likely. In fact, hard as 
they found it to make a good start and get fairly 
launched into their subject, they appear to find it harder 
still to wind up, and bring that subject to a close. And, 
in this case, we have the oratorical monster which is 
known by the unwieldy length of his tail. Captivated 
by the sound of his own voice ; or, what is more likely, 
not exactly seeing how to conclude his discourse, the 
preacher continues to talk, although in reality he has 
already more than said all that he had to say on the 
subject. In these circumstances, his language, instead 
of rising in warmth, dignity,and real oratorical excellence, 

17 



242 



EXTEMPORARY PREACHING. 



is almost certain to degenerate into mere talk. The 
sermon is continued without any new light being 
thrown upon the matter — words are heaped up, but ideas 
are remarkable only by their absence — and the inevitable 
result is a lamentable weakening of the whole discourse, 
which, if it had been finished with prudence and discre- 
tion, might, perhaps, have been tolerably successful, 
but, as it is, only grows weaker and weaker the more it 
is prolonged. It may be, that, in a certain part of his 
discourse, in the crisis of his appeal to the feelings of his 
hearers, the preacher may have succeeded in moving 
them deeply, or in raising them to a momentary enthu- 
siasm. But, having neglected to conclude when affairs 
were in this favourable position, his hearers, unable, or 
unwilling, to remain any longer with feelings unusually 
excited, or unduly strained, drop down at once to their 
ordinary level, and the preacher soon discovers that he 
is addressing, at the best a listless, in all probability, a 
wearied and disgusted audience. Still he flounders 
along for a little while longer, heaping word upon word, 
and phrase upon phrase, till, in the end, with the reck- 
lessness of despair, he winds up with the well-used text, 
<f Come, ye blessed of my Father," and descends, crowned, 
if not with laurels, at least with the gratitude of his 
audience, for having seen fit to conclude at last. 

Now, this is a position in which no preacher has a 



HOW TO CONCLUDE THE DISCOURSE. 243 

right to place himself: the office which he fills, the duty 
which he discharges, the respect due to the body to 
which he belongs, and of which he is never free to 
forget that he is a member, require him to guard, as far 
as he may be able, against such a slovenly performance. 
And, as a rule, he will only guard effectually against 
this unbecoming and unpleasant result, by marking out 
clearly and distinctly in the plan of his discourse the 
leading ideas on which he will dwell in his conclusion, 
the manner in which he will develop them, and, to some 
extent, the very words in which he will give them expres- 
sion. Nor will this be sufficient. He must also foresee 
how he will do this with that lucid brevity, that vigor- 
ous point, that warmth, earnest and real, just in pro- 
portion as it is brief, which alone render the conclusion 
of a discourse all that it ought to be, the most telling 
and effective portion of it. 

There are various ways of concluding and winding 
up a discourse, and the preacher will, of course, avail 
himself of that method which may suit himself or his 
subject best. 

The first, and undoubtedly the easiest, method of 
concluding, and it is one upon which the preacher can 
always fall back, no matter how embarrassed or hard 
pushed he may be, consists in a mere recapitulation of 
the leading heads, arguments, and illustrations con- 



244 



EXTEMPORARY PREACHING. 



tained in the discourse. In a purely argumentative 
sermon, if we can conceive any circumstances in which 
it may be useful or desirable to deliver such a discourse, 
this form of conclusion is appropriate enough. In a 
sermon of this kind, the preacher appeals entirely to the 
intellect and the reason, and as there is no question of 
any address to the feelings, or of any attempt to move 
the heart and the will, a mere recapitulation of the 
arguments is all that is necessary by way of conclusion. 
Only, do not let the orator call such a performance a 
sermon. It may pass as a learned lecture, or as a 
philosophical essay, bat, in no sense of the word, can it 
be considered as a persuasive oration. And it is a style 
of preaching which, we venture to think, a prudent 
priest will seldom employ. 

What we have said of the purely argumentative dis- 
course will, of course, apply in a great measure to the 
controversial sermon. As this kind of discourse, how- 
ever, generally supposes the presence in the congrega- 
tion of some who are outside the pale of the truth, there 
is more room in the conclusion for an appeal to the 
feelings and sentiments of the audience ; since, if we 
take the trouble to proclaim the doctrines of the Church 
from a controversial point of view, it must surely be 
with the purpose of inducing those amongst our hearers, 
who may not be within the Fold, to embrace them. 



HOW TO CONCLUDE THE DISCOUKSE. 245 

Hence, a sermon of this nature will always conclude 
appropriately and well with a few words of warm and 
earnest exhortation, words full of charity towards those 
who may be wandering in the mazes of error and dark- 
ness, and of zeal for their speedy and thorough conver- 
sion. 

Again, there are certain discourses, simple, familiar, 
unpremeditated, which are not really sermons, which 
contain no element of argument or intellectual dis- 
cussion, which never approach the " crisis " of which 
we have spoken, except in so far as the entire discourse 
may be considered as dealing with the passions, feelings, 
and sentiments which it is the special object of the 
" crisis " to influence and move. Such are familiar in- 
structions to children, exhortations before First Com- 
munion, addresses to Religious, etc. In these and like 
cases, although the speaker will naturally warm 
towards the end of his discourse, and although he may 
even recapitulate in one sense, still, as this will be 
merely a recapitulation of the feelings and sentiments 
to which he has already appealed, his conclusion will 
not be substantially different from the rest of his dis- 
course, and can scarcely be called a formal peroration. 

But, there is one method of concluding an ordinary 
discourse, and by an ordinary discourse we understand 
one that is partly argumentative and partly exhortatory, 



246 



EXTEMPORARY PREACHING. 



which is practical, easy, and most appropriate ; which it 
ought to give the speaker no great trouble to employ ; 
and which, if it be discreetly used, will save him from 
all those inconvenient consequences at which we have 
already glanced. 

This form or method of concluding will embrace, in 
a broad general way, two great leading parts or points, 
each one most practical, and each one most easy to 
seize. And these two great points are, first, a recapi- 
tulation and summary of the principal heads of the 
discourse; and, secondly, a few words of such warm, 
earnest, and zealous exhortation as may penetrate the 
most hidden recesses of every heart, may change every 
will, and render the triumph of grace signal and com- 
plete. 

The first point, then, in a successful conclusion will 
be a brief recapitulation and summary of the most 
striking features of the discourse, and especially of those 
arguments, illustrations, etc., which we deem most con- 
ducive to persuasion, and best adapted to pave the way 
for that grand coup, for that last final assault, which we 
are presently to make upon the feelings of our hearers, 
in order to carry all before us, in order to soften every 
heart, to bow every head, and bend every stubborn knee 
before the sweet yoke of Jesus Christ. The preacher, 
therefore, having disposed of the instructive, argumen- 



HOW TO CONCLUDE THE DISCOURSE. 



247 



tative, and illustrative parts of his discourse, sees that 
the time has come to wind up, and bring that discourse 
to a happy conclusion. Hence, he proceeds to recall as 
much of his discourse as can be recalled in a few short 
sentences, because he feels instinctively that by pre- 
senting his arguments, etc., in one serried, compact body, 
they will naturally produce a greater impression upon 
the mind and heart, and gain a more complete victory 
over his hearers, than they have yet done, brought 
forward as they have been without that strength and 
vigour which they will acquire from mutual support. 
But, as the argumentation has been already concluded, 
and we must neither venture to return upon it ourselves 
in any substantial measure or degree, nor allow our 
hearers to perceive, in so far as this may be practicable, 
that we are merely recapitulating, this recapitulation 
must be extremely brief, rapid, and. as we have just 
said, as imperceptible as possible to the audience. Our 
object here is not to return to the consideration of any 
special portion of our discourse, but to renew the impres- 
sion of the whole ; and to do this in such a manner as to 
interest, to move, to persuade our hearers, or, at least, 
to dispose and prepare them to be persuaded; and 
nothing would be more fatal to our object than the idea 
that the preacher was preparing to reconduct his 
audience over the ground which they had already 



248 



EXTEMPORARY PREACHING. 



travelled with so much patient labour, and so much 
ready and diligent attention. 

Having thus briefly recapitulated the leading heads 
of his discourse, and having done this with such energy 
and warmth, with such an absence of anything like 
formal or premeditated recapitulation, as to make it 
appear as if in reality he were appealing to the passions 
rather than to the reason, he passes on to the second 
part of his conclusion, which, in truth, constitutes the 
peroration strictly so called, and upon his skilful or 
unskilful management of which so much of his success 
will depend. 

This element of his peroration, or conclusion, consists 
in a few words, or, at most, in a few sentences, 
of earnest, burning, truly zealous exhortation. Al- 
though brief, but warm, exhortation may have had its 
place in other parts of his sermon, and notably at the 
conclusion of each leading point, it is now that what we 
have called the crisis of the discourse will, as a general 
rule, occur. This is the moment in which the preacher 
is to bear down, with all his forces, upon the already 
wavering, or yet stubborn will. This is the moment in 
which, expressing in burning, but in plain and simple 
words, those practical conclusions, and those fervent 
resolutions regarding a more holy and Christian mode 
of life, which must be the natural fruit of every really 



HOW TO CONCLUDE THE DISCOURSE. 249 

successful discourse, he must carry, not only conviction 
to every mind, but persuasion to every heart. Now is 
the time in which the appeal to the passions, par ex- 
cellence, will have full play. Now is the moment in 
which the speaker will prove how much or how little 
of the true fire burns within his heart. Now is the 
time for the sparkling eye, the ringing voice, the im- 
passioned gesture of his hand, to make themselves 
known and felt. Now, or never, is he to stand before 
his audience in the fullest, truest, deepest sense of the 
word, their master and their lord ; their master in the 
light of the truth, and their lord in the strength of 
the Gospel of Christ. Now every intellect must bow, 
now every heart must melt, beneath the irresistible 
influence of his words ; of those words which are irre- 
sistible because they are the words of a man who, 
although he may not be very learned, nor very deeply 
skilled in worldly things, speaks with the accent of one 
who believes what he proclaims, who practises what he 
preaches, whose soul is all on fire with ardent love for 
the welfare of his flock, with unquenchable zeal for 
the greater glory of Jesus Christ: the words of a man who 
never wearies of proclaiming to the world, to the will- 
ing and to the unwilling, to the just and to the unjust, 
to the sinner and to the saint, the rights, the preroga- 
tives, and the attributes of his master, Jesus Christ — f 



250 



EXTEMPORARY PREACHING. 



of Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, to-day, and for 
ever. Now, in one word, is the moment in which the 
heart of the true orator answers with keen instinct, and 
ready impulse, to the demands which are made upon 
it; now is the moment in which the true orator will 
rise to the full dignity of his position as minister of 
Christ, as guide and teacher of his fellow-men ; and 
now is the moment in which, having won his victory 
and carried his point, the man who is wise with the 
priceless wisdom of experience, will know how to con- 
clude his discourse, how to descend from the sacred 
chair, whilst the success of his appeal is at its very 
height, whilst the power of his language, and the force 
of his words, is as yet unquestioned and unimpaired. 

It may be said that the picture we have drawn of the 
orator, and of his success, is too much of a fancy one ; 
or, at all events, that it is one which is rarely realized. 
Perhaps so. But we venture to think that it is a true 
one, nevertheless, and that it is just in proportion as a 
man can succeed in realizing it that he will succeed in 
realizing the dignity of his position, and the solid tri- 
umphs which await him, and which are his legitimate 
rights, as a minister of God, and as a preacher of that 
Gospel which is living and efficacious, which penetrates 
the soul, and is keener, in the mouth of him who knows 
how to use it, than a two-edged sword. 



HOW TO CONCLUDE THE DISCOUKSE. 251 

It is needless- to repeat that the peroration, or con- 
clusion, is the portion of a discourse in which, above all 
others, the appeal to the passions has its proper place. 
Nor, having treated at great length in " Sacred Elo- 
quence"* of the nature of these appeals, and the manner 
in which they are to be conducted, need we now delay 
longer upon this matter. It will suffice to remind the 
young preacher, that the peroration of his discourse will, 
if it is to be successful, necessarily be brief, since all 
appeals to the passions are incapable of being unduly 
prolonged : that in these last moments, when the will 
is finally to be gained, all must be strong, vigorous, pas- 
sionate, warm from the heart : that, in one word, this 
is the crowning portion of his address for which he 
must reserve all that is most true, most ardent, and 
most precious, in reason, heart, and tongue. " Quae 
excellant, serventur ad perorandum" ..." ffic, si 
unquam, totos eloquentice fontes aperire licet." 

After these preliminary remarks on the nature, ob- 
ject, and best method of concluding a discourse, we can- 
not, probably, bring this chapter to a close in a more 
useful manner, than by selecting a few examples of per- 
orations employed by well-known writers, which the 
young preacher may study at his leisure. 



* " Sacred Eloquence," chap. 9, sec. i. ii. iii. iv. v. 



252 



EXTEMPORARY PREACHING. 



Our first example is taken from St. Liguori's " Ser- 
mons for all the Sundays of the year."* These dis- 
courses are remarkable for their solidity of matter, and 
aim much more at suggesting substantial and leading 
ideas, than at eloquence of language or elaboration of 
detail. In the sermon at present under notice, the 
preacher has been considering the various circumstances 
of soul and body which ordinarily accompany the death 
of men of the world, and he concludes in the following 
simple, but striking words, which, as is evident, contain 
a resume' of the whole matter : — 

"Before the body is cold, he is covered with a worn- 
out garment ; because it must soon rot with him in the 
grave. Two lighted candles are placed in the chamber ; 
the curtain of the bed on which the dead man lies is let 
down ; and he is left alone. The parish priest is sent 
for, and requested to come in the morning and take 
away the corpse. The priest comes ; the deceased is 
carried to the church ; and this is his last journey on 
this earth. The priests begin to sing the ' Be profun- 
dis clamavi ad te, Bomine,' etc. The spectators, who 
look at the funeral as it passes, speak of the deceased. 
One says : He was a proud man. Another : 0 that he 



* James Duffy, Sons, and Co., Dublin. 



HOW TO CONCLUDE THE DISCOURSE. 253 

had died ten years ago. A third : He was fortunate 
in the world ; he made a great deal of money ; he had 
a fine house ; but now he takes nothing with him. 
And while they speak of him in this manner, he is burn- 
ing in Hell. He arrives at the church, and is placed 
in the middle, surrounded by six candles. The by- 
standers look at him, but suddenly turn away their eyes, 
because his appearance excites horror. The Mass is 
sung for his repose, and after Mass, the 1 Libera • and 
the function is concluded with these words : Requiescat 
in pace — May he rest in peace. May he rest in peace, 
if he died in peace with God ; but if he has died in 
enmity with God, what peace ! what peace can he enjoy ? 
He shall have no peace as long as God shall be God. 
The sepulchre is theu opened; the corpse is thrown 
into it ; the grave is covered with a tombstone ; and he 
is left there to rot, and to be the food of worms. 
It is thus that the scene of this world ends for each of 
us. His relatives put on mourning ; but they first di- 
vide among themselves the property which he has left. 
They shed an occasional tear for two or three days, and 
afterwards forget him. And what shall become of him ? 
If he be saved, he shall be happy for ever ; if damned, 
he must be miserable for eternity." 

Our next extract is from Massillon, the great French 



254 



EXTEMPORARY PREACHING. 



preacher. Massillon is a writer who, we venture to 
think, will be more admired the more he is studied. It 
has been said of his eloquence, that it goes right to the 
soul : it agitates without confounding, appals without 
crushing, penetrates without lacerating. His diction, 
which is always easy, elegant, and pure, never deviates 
from that simplicity which alone is reconcilable with 
good taste ; while for clearness of reasoning, power of 
illustration, and order of arrangement, he stands almost 
unrivalled ; and the young preacher, exercising, of 
course, due discretion as to the sermons he selects, and 
the manner in which he employs them, could scarcely, 
omnibus pensatis, take a better model. In the course 
of this work, chap. 13, we have alluded to Massillon's 
discourse on "the Happiness of the Just," and the man- 
ner in which he treats his subject. He concludes his 
sermon with the following beautiful words, which are 
at once a resum4 and an exhortation : — 

" Would you then, my dear hearer, live happy on the 
earth ? Live Christianly. Piety is universally beneficial. 
Innocence of heart is the source of true pleasures. Turn 
to every side ; there is no rest, says the Spirit of God, 
for the wicked. Try every pleasure ; they will never 
eradicate that disease of the mind, that fund of lassitude 
and gloom, which, go where you will, continually accom- 



HOW TO CONCLUDE THE DISCOURSE. 255 

panies you. Cease, then, to consider the lot of the godly 
as a disagreeable and sorrowful lot ; judge not their 
happiness from appearances which deceive you. You 
see their countenance bedewed with tears, but you see 
not the invisible hand which wipes them away ; you see 
their body groaning under the yoke of penitence, but 
you see not the unction of grace which softens it ; you 
see sorrowful and austere manners, but you see not a 
conscience always cheerful and tranquil. They are like 
the ark in the desert : it appeared covered only with the 
skins of animals: the exterior is mean or unattractive; 
it is the condition of that melancholy desert. But, could 
you penetrate into the heart, into that divine sanctuary, 
what new wonders would rise to your eyes ! You would 
find it clothed in pure gold : you would there see the 
glory of God with which it is filled : you would there 
admire the fragrance of the perfumes, and the fervour 
of the prayers which are continually mounting upwards 
to the Lord ; the sacred fire which is never extin- 
guished on the altar ; that silence, that peace, that 
majesty which reigns there; and the Lord himself, who 
hath chosen it for his abode, and who hath delighted 
in it." 

We have already given the reader some idea of the 
wonderfully vigorous language in which Father Segneri 



256 



EXTEMPORARY PREACHING. 



was accustomed to introduce and to develop the sub- 
jects on which he spoke. Let us now call his attention 
to the following beautifully pathetic, but strong and 
vigorous passage, from the peroration of Segneri's ser- 
mon " On the Sinner's Quiet Conscience :" — 

" But why speak of evil spirits ? Christ Himself will 
be at hand to upbraid you with His own mouth for all 
the ingratitude you have heaped on His Blood. And 
what confidence will you then repose in one, who has 
taken care to set down, in minute detail, even c every 
idle word ' you have spoken, not to mention your slan- 
ders, your blasphemies, your falsehoods ? I fancy I 
behold Him, how He will appear before you at your last 
struggle — naked, wounded, gory, and besmeared with 
blood. On His right side and on His left are His 
ministering angels, armed with storm and terror, while, 
bearing in His hand the ponderous register of all human 
delinquencies, He will begin reading over yours in 
regular succession, sounding aloud, as He proceeds, in 
the ears of your conscience, now no longer sealed in 
deafness, those fearful words in the Psalm : These things 
thou hast done, and 1 /kept silence (xlix. 21). 'Thou, 
from thy childhood to thy youth, and from thy youth to 
thy riper years, hast committed all manner of evil 
against Me — and I kept silence ; in all thy past life, 



HOW TO CONCLUDE THE DISCOURSE. 257 

thou hast rejected and despised everything that I com- 
manded thee, as being good for thy soul and conducive 
to My honour and glory — and I kept silence ; thou hast 
gone on rioting and revelling in thiue own way, after 
the wickedness of thine heart and the course of this 
world — and I kept silence ; even to thine old age, thou 
hast obstinately persisted in thy vicious habits, and gone 
on adding sin to sin — and I kept silence. And didst 
thou then indulge the thought — didst thou think 
wickedly, that I was such a one as thyself'} Didst thou 
think, that I should always keep silence — that I should 
never be roused to resentment ? / have long time 
holden My peace ; I have been still and refrained 
myself ; but noiv I ivill cry like a travailing woman 
(Isa. xxii. 14). And, forasmuch as during all thy life 
thou didst never prize My Blood, but didst shamefully 
trample it under foot, as the dung of the earth, behold, 
this same Blood, which would have been thy redemp- 
tion, is turned to thy condemnation !' " — On the Sinner's 
Quiet Conscience. 

In the way of resume, at once historical and pathetic, 

expressed in graceful language, and with a depth of 

genuine but truly dignified feeling, nothing more 

striking could easily be found than the peroration to 

the Archbishop of Westminster's funeral oration on 

18 



258 



EXTEMPORARY PREACHING. 



Cardinal Wiseman. To appreciate fully the significance 
and meaning of these beautiful words, we must call to 
mind the intimate relations which existed between these 
two illustrious men, and the wonderful part which/ in 
the providence of God, they were called, each one in his 
own time, to take, in watching the early promise, in 
fostering and protecting the first fair fruits of that 
Second Spring of the English Church, which already 
gives such hopeful presage of maturity and strength. 
The archbishop thus concludes his oration : — 

" Great and noble in his life, he was greater and 
nobler in his death. There were about it a calmness, a 
recollection, a majesty, an order of perfect fitness and 
preparation worthy of the chamber of death, and such 
as became the last hours of a Pastor and Prince of the 
Church of God. He was a great Christian in all the 
deepest, largest, simplest, meaning of the name ; and a 
great Priest in thought, word, and deed, in the whole 
career of his life and in the mould of his whole being. 
He died the death of the just, making a worthy and 
proportionate end to a course so great. 

" We have lost a Friend, a Father, and a Pastor, whose 
memory will be with us while life lasts. As one who 
knew him well, said well of him, e We are all lowered 
by his loss.' We have all lost somewhat which was our 



HOW TO CONCLUDE THE DISCOUESE. 259 

support, our strength, our guidance, our pattern, and 
our pride. We have lost him who, in the face of this 
great people, worthily represented the greatness and the 
majesty of the Universal Church. He has fallen asleep 
in the midst of the generous, kindly, just, noble-hearted 
sympathy of the people, the public men, the public 
voices of England ; a great people, strong and bold in 
its warfare, but humane, chivalrous, and Christian to the 
antagonists who are worthy to contend with it. He is 
gone, but he has left behind him in our memories a long 
line of historical pictures, traced in the light of other 
days upon a field which will retain its colours fresh and 
vivid for ever. Some of you remember him as the 
companion of your boyhood, upon the bare hills of 
Durham ; some in the early morning of his life, in the 
sanctuaries of Rome ; some see before them now his 
slender, stooping form, on a bright winter's day, walking 
to the Festival of St. Agnes, out of the walls; some again, 
drawn up to the full stature of his manhood, rising above 
the storm, and contending with the calm, commanding 
voice of reason against the momentary excitement of the 
people of England. Some again can see him vested and 
arrayed as a Prince of the Church with the twelve 
Suffragans of England closing the long procession 
which opened the first Provincial Synod of Westminster, 
after the silence of three hundred years. Some will 



260 



EXTEMPORARY PREACHING. 



picture him in the great hall of a Roman palace, sur- 
rounded by half the Bishops of the world, of every 
language and of every land, chosen by them as their 
chief, to fashion their words in declaring to the Sovereign 
Pontiff their filial obedience to the Spiritual and 
Temporal power with which God has invested the Vicar 
of His Son. Some will see him feeble in death, but 
strong in faith, arrayed as a Pontiff, surrounded by the 
Chapter of his Church, by word and deed verifying the 
Apostle's testimony, ' I have fought a good fight, I 
have finished my course, I have kept the faith and 
some will cherish above all these visions of greatness 
and of glory, the calm, sweet countenance of their best, 
fastest friend and father, lying in the dim light of his 
chamber, not of death, but of transit to his crown. These 
things are visions, but they are substance. 'Transit 
gloria mundi ' as the flax burns in fire. But these things 
shall not pass away. Bear him forth, Right Reverend 
Fathers and dear brethren in Jesus Christ — bear him 
forth to the green burial-ground on the outskirts of this 
busy wilderness of men. It was his desire to die and to 
be buried, not amid the glories of Rome, but in the 
midst of his flock, the first Cardinal Archbishop of 
Westminster. Lay him in the midst of that earth, as 
a shepherd in the midst of his sheep, near to the Holy 
Cross, the symbol of his life, work, and hope ; where the 



HOW TO CONCLUDE THE DISCOUKSE. 261 



Pastors he has ordained will be buried one by one in a 
circle round about him in death, as they laboured round 
about him in life. He will be in the midst of us still — 
his name, his form, his words, his patience, his love of 
souls — to be our law, our rebuke, our consolation. And 
yet, not so : it is but the body of this death which you 
bear forth with tears of loving veneration. He is not 
here. He will not be there. He is already where the 
Great Shepherd of the sheep is numbering His elect, 
and those who led them to the Fold of Eternal Life. 
And the hands which have so often blessed you, which 
anointed yon, which fed you with the Bread of Life, 
are already lifted up in prayer, which never ceases day 
nor night for you, one by one, for England, for the 
Church in all the world." 

Finally, in the conclusion to Dr. Newman's mag- 
nificent sermon on "The Neglect of Divine Calls 
and Warnings,"* the young preacher will discover at a 
glance the various points which we have mentioned as 
specially characteristic of a good peroration. Nothing 
could be more simple, more plainly to the point, and yet 
more full of tender love and charity, than the recapitu- 
lation of the leading ideas which have been treated in 
the discourse, whilst the concluding lines breathe a 

* " Discourses addressed to Mixed Congregations." 



262 



EXTEMPORAKY PREACHING. 



fragrant beauty, and a touching pathos, which seem to 
us as near perfection as they well can be : — 

" Vanity of vanities ! misery of miseries ! they will 
not attend to us, they will not believe us. We are 
but a few in number, and they are many; and the 
many will not give credit to the few. O misery of 
miseries ! Thousands are dying daily ; they are waking 
up into God's everlasting wrath ; they look back on the 
days of the flesh, and call them few and evil; they 
despise and scorn the very reasonings which then 
they trusted and which have been disproved by the 
event ; they curse the recklessness which made them put 
off repentance ; they have fallen under His justice, 
whose mercy they presumed upon ; and their compa- 
nions and friends are going on as they did, and are soon 
to join them. As the last generation presumed, so does 
the present. The father would not believe God could 
punish, and now the son will not believe ; the father 
was indignant when eternal pain was spoken of, and the 
son gnashes his teeth, and smiles contemptuously. The 
world spoke well of itself thirty years ago, and so will 
it thirty years to come. And thus it is that this vast 
flood of life is carried on from age to age ; myriads 
trifling with God's love, tempting His justice, and, like 
the herd of swine, falling headlong down the steep ! 0 



HOW TO CONCLUDE THE DISCOURSE. 



263 



mighty God ! 0 God of love ! it is too much. ! it broke 
the heart of thy sweet Son Jesus to see the misery of 
man spread out before His eyes. He died by it as well 
as for it. And we too, in our measure, our eyes ache, 
and our hearts sicken, and our heads reel, when we but 
feebly contemplate it. 0 most tender heart of Jesus, 
why wilt Thou not end, w T hen wilt Thou end, this ever- 
growing load of sin and woe ? When wilt Thou chase 
away the devil into his own hell, and close the pit's 
mouth, that Thy chosen may rejoice in Thee, quitting 
the thought of those who perish in their wilfulness ? 
But, oh ! by those five dear Wounds in Hands, and 
Feet, and Side — perpetual founts of mercy, from which 
the fulness of the Eternal Trinity flows ever fresh, ever 
powerful, ever bountiful to all who seek Thee — if the 
world must still endure, at least gather Thou a larger 
and a larger harvest, an ampler proportion of souls out 
of it into Thy garner, that these latter times may, in 
sanctity, and glory, and the triumphs of Thy grace, 
exceed the former. 

"'Deus misereatur nostri, et benedicat nobis;' 
God, have mercy on us, and bless us ; and show the 
light of His countenance upon us, and have mercy on 
us ; that we may know Thy way upon earth, Thy salva- 
tion among all the nations. Let the people praise 
Thee, 0 God ; let all the people praise Thee. Let the 



264 



EXTEMPORARY PREACHING. 



nations be glad, and leap for joy ; because Thou dost 
judge the people in equity, and dost direct the nations 
on the earth. God, even our God, bless us, God bless 
us ; and let all the ends of the earth fear Him.' " 

We offer no apology for the length of these extracts. 
They surely speak for themselves. If he study them 
in the light of the principles which we have ventured to 
suggest and throw out, we hope, as we believe, that 
they will be of great service to the young preacher. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 



STYLE OF THE PULPIT — STYLE OF THE PULPIT IS ESSEN- 
TIALLY POPULAR — CHARACTERISTICS OF A POPULAR 
STYLE, IN THE TRUE ACCEPTATION OF THE TERM. 

HE young preacher having now accompanied us 
through the various stages which are involved 
in the preparation and delivery of an extemporary dis- 
course, we cannot, perhaps, conclude these remarks in 
a manner at once more useful and more acceptable to 
him, than by a few words on the Style of the Pulpit, 
more especially in its relation to extemporary preach- 
ing. 

Premising that we speak of style in the broadest and 
w 7 idest acceptation of the term — taking it for granted 
that, whilst the sacred orator must, according to the 
exigencies of varying circumstances, be prepared, on 
some occasions, to rise to the highest flights of eloquence 
of which he may be capable, just as he must, more fre- 
quently, be ready to accommodate himself to the hum- 
ble capacity of the simple and the unlearned — we may 



266 



EXTEMPORARY PREACHING. 



fairly ask whether there is any one quality of oratory 
which can be assigned as the special characteristic of 
Popular Pulpit Eloquence. 

There are, undoubtedly, certain solemn occasions on 
which the people are prepared to hear sublime and 
elevated subjects treated in the most finished manner, 
adorned and enriched with all the dignity and grace 
which can be imparted to them by profundity of con- 
ception, and by polished and eloquent language — in a 
word, by all the ornaments of style, and all the graces 
of a finished and vigorous elocution. But, it is evident 
that these efforts must be very exceptional, and that 
the qualities which render such discourses perfect in 
their way, can never constitute the characteristics of 
the more ordinary and every-day style of preaching. 
For, as we have already said, the very first condition of 
public speaking is to be intelligible. But, as the ma- 
jority of those whom the preacher will, in all ordinary 
circumstances, be called upon to address, will be com- 
posed of the simple, the ignorant, and the unlettered, it 
is plain, that if he is to be intelligible to them, he can- 
not speak in high-flown language, or in profundity of 
thought. And, when to this we add that ignorance on 
matters of religion and duty is not confined to the poor 
and the unlettered, but that it is not unfrequently to 
be met with amongst those who occupy a respectable 



STYLE OF THE PULPIT. 



267 



position in society, and who are well instructed in mere 
worldly affairs, is it not evident that the language of 
the preacher who is to address such audiences as these 
with fruit and success, must be of a very different cha- 
racter from that of which we have spoken above ? The 
people themselves are the very first to understand this. 
They may listen with pleasure, from time to time, to a 
display of finished oratory, in which, may be, the pass- 
ing triumph which is reaped by the speaker is much 
greater than the solid profit which is derived by the 
listener ; but the good sense and the faith of a religious 
people are strong enough to cause them to understand, 
that the true preacher, the true minister of the Gospel 
of Christ, should ambition far different triumphs than 
these. They may listen, as we have just said, to the 
great orator from time to time, but, as a matter of fact, 
they take but little interest in his polished language 
and his glowing style, and are quick to pass judgment 
on a discourse which seems to them, rightly or wrongly, 
to savour much of vanity and self-seeking, little of zeal 
for the glory of God and the salvation of souls. The 
preacher whom they love, respect, and revere — to whom 
they listen with pleasure, and from whom they part 
with regret — is the man who speaks to them from a 
heart that is all on fire with charity and love; who 
speaks the plain, simple truth in plain and simple 



26S 



EXTEMPORARY PREACHING. 



words; who is vastly more anxious to soften their 
hearts, and to cause the saving tears of penance to flow 
down their cheeks, than to win their approbation and 
their empty praise. This is the man whom they love, 
around whom they are anxious to press; this is the 
man who, whilst he enlightens and instructs, moves 
and softens every heart. This is the man who conquers 
without seeming to fight, who secures the deepest and 
most lasting results without apparent labour or effort. 
This is the man whose style of preaching exemplifies, 
in the most striking manner, the quality which may be 
fairly and justly assigned as the special characteristic 
of pulpit oratory, and more especially of Extemporary 
Preaching. This is the man whose style of preaching 
is essentially and characteristically popular. 

The style of the pulpit is essentially a popular style ; 
not a popular style in the false and misused meaning 
of the word, as signifying empty appeals to passion, 
prejudice, or mere passing sentiment and feeling; but 
in the true and only reasonable acceptation of the term, 
that acceptation in which Cicero describes popular 
speech to be that which is eminently becoming — Quod 
decet And from all that we have said above, as well 
as through the entire course of this treatise, we venture 
to hope we have made it sufficiently plain, that the 
only style of speaking which truly becomes the Chris- 



STYLE OF THE PULPIT. 269 



tian orator is that in which, discarding all subtle rea- 
soning and all abstract and unpractical forms of thought, 
all laboured composition and all unnecessary or undue 
elaboration of his language and his mode of speech, the 
preacher strives, by the simplicity, the purity, the clear- 
ness, the gravity, the variety, and, above all, by the 
earnestness of his style, to render his discourse duly 
interesting and solidly useful to his hearers. This is 
the style which is truly becoming in the priest of God 
— Quod decet. This is the special characteristic of 
popular preaching. 

Yes : the style of the pulpit is essentially popular. 
This we have already shown. And the special charac- 
teristics of really popular speech are simplicity, purity, 
clearness, gravity, interest, and earnest warmth. On 
these qualities we now purpose to say a few words. 

A popular sermon will be essentially simple. With- 
out aiming at high-flown language, or without de- 
scending to what is low or mean, it will express plain 
thoughts in plain words. And simplicity of speech 
possesses this great advantage to commence with : 
whilst it can easily be made to please all men, it is 
certain to benefit all. Moreover, unless spoken lan- 
guage possess this quality, it will fail, at least so far as 
regards the majority of hearers, in the very first essen- 
tial of speech. For it is not enough, where others are 



270 



EXTEMPORARY PREACHING. 



concerned, that our words be in harmony with, and 
express, our ideas : they must be rigorously adapted to 
the capacity and intelligence of our hearers. But, it is 
quite certain, that, so far as the masses are concerned, 
all abstract ideas, all ingenious reflections, all learned 
discussions, are totally out of place. If we would speak 
to the hearts of the people we must speak simply, and 
be content to express simple thoughts in simple words. 
We must try, in one sense, to descend to their level, to 
see things as they see them, and to feel them as they 
feel them. And hence it is, that really popular preach- 
ers have always been so much addicted to the use of 
metaphors, comparisons, etc. When these comparisons 
are drawn from actual, present, or visible things, they 
have a wonderful influence, more especially if they be 
striking and popular, in assisting the people to compre- 
hend and appreciate what we say. This is the way in 
which our Divine Lord taught the people. Although 
He possessed all the treasures of the Divine Science — 
although He was the very source and fountain of Infi- 
nite Wisdom itself — we shall probably be surprised, on 
looking through the Scriptures, to find how seldom He 
argued or reasoned, and how frequently He instructed 
and taught. In this, as in all things else, He is the 
model and the exemplar of the priest. 

If our spoken language, if our speech, be simple, it 



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271 



must, almost as a necessary consequence, be clear. 
Indeed, Gaichies does not hesitate to assert that clear- 
ness is the first quality, and most essential condition, of 
popular speaking. All the rest, he says, purity, dignity, 
polish, must give place to clearness ; since it is of much 
less consequence to be criticised by the grammarians 
than misunderstood by the people. Nor is it so easy 
to be clear as may appear at first sight. For, as the 
clearness at which we are obliged to aim, is a relative, 
and not an absolute clearness, it must necessarily be 
the fruit of much careful study of our subject and our 
audience. In fact, it may be doubted whether any 
part of his preparation requires to be undertaken with 
greater care, and worked out with more thorough and 
discriminating perseverance, than his study hoiv to be 
understood. If he doubt this, let the young preacher 
reflect for a moment on the great number of those who, 
in their public discourses, sacred or otherwise, fail to 
convey their meaning and make themselves intelligible, 
and this not merely to the ignorant and uneducated, 
but to the intelligent portion of their audience. We 
shall be very fortunate if, after long practice, and much 
studious reflection, Ave succeed in acquiring the price- 
less quality of clearness. What aids us to be simple 
will, at the same time, aid us to be clear. If we accus- 
tom ourselves to speak in a natural manner, without 



272 



EXTEMPORARY PREACHING. 



pomposity or empty affectation ; if by study, thought, 
and prayer, we fill ourselves with our subject, and then, 
without undue solicitude or over-anxious care, allow 
ourselves, when the time has come, to speak from the 
abundance of the heart, we shall speak simply and 
clearly, and, as a necessary consequence, well. "In 
omnibus sermonibus suis" says St. Augustine, in his 
instructions to preachers, " primitus et maxime, ut in- 
telligantur, elaborent, ea quantum possunt perspicui- 
tate dicendi, ut aut multum tardus sit, qui non intel- 
ligat, aut in rerum, quas explicare aut ostendere 
volumus, difficultate ac subtilitate, non in nostra 
locutions sit causa, quo minus tardiusve quod dici- 
mus, possit intelligi."* 

Popular eloquence most assuredly must be clear and 
simple; but it by no means follows from this, as some 
seem to imagine, that it need be low or vulgar. Young 
writers and speakers are very slow to learn the great 
truth that, so far from clearness and simplicity being 
incompatible with perfect purity of style and of compo- 
sition, they constitute, on the contrary, its finishing and 
crowning grace. Whilst, therefore, the sacred orator 
will not much concern himself about any great elabora- 
tion of his style, any over-careful trimming of his sen- 



* De Doctr. Christ., lib. iv. cap. 8. 



STYLE OF THE PULPIT. 



273 



tences, or any undue affectation of elegance, either in 
composition or in utterance, he will ever take care to 
speak as becomes a scholar and a Christian gentleman ; 
and let him be quite certain that if, under a mistaken 
idea of rendering himself more acceptable or more in- 
telligible to them, he descends to their level, and for- 
gets the dignity of the pulpit by the use of coarse, un- 
polished, and unbecoming language, the people will be 
the first to take offence at this, and to resent the liberty 
which such a speaker takes with their understanding 
and good taste. They expect a preacher to speak to 
them simply, and in intelligible language, but they 
expect him, at the same time, to remember the position 
which he occupies. They will strive their utmost to 
rise to his level, at least so far as to be able to compre- 
hend his meaning, but they do not wish him to descend 
to theirs. The prudent preacher will never lose sight 
of this. At the same time, let him not alarm himself 
needlessly lest he be not understood. If he preach in 
plain, simple, grammatical English, his audience will 
understand the meaning of what he says, since they 
comprehend much more readily than they speak. 

Popular pulpit eloquence will be grave, and, although 
this may perhaps sound like a contradiction in terms, 
it will be lively and full of interest. There are some 

things which a priest can never, in any circumstances, 

19 



274 



EXTEMPORARY PREACHING. 



afford to forget; and foremost amongst them is the 
gravity of the sacerdotal character. We have already- 
said that the priest can never descend to become a mere 
mob orator, any more than he can become a mere buf- 
foon. At all times, and in all places, he must express 
himself with that gravity of manner and of speech 
which alone become the minister of God, the teacher of 
the Gospel of Christ. And this is a point upon which, 
most surely, we need not delay in this place. But, 
having premised this, let us add, that, whilst he never 
loses sight of the gravity and innate dignity of the 
sacerdotal character, he must, if he is to be a successful 
speaker, labour with all his might and main to render 
his discourse really, truly, and solidly interesting. 

It is very surprising how many zealous, earnest, tho- 
roughly pious men fail, utterly and completely, as 
preachers, simply because they are unable to infuse one 
shred of human interest into what they say. The 
moment they enter the pulpit their very nature seems 
to have undergone a change ; and many a man who, in 
his daily intercourse with his people, is frank, easy, and 
affectionate, becomes cold, stiff, and stilted, when he 
begins to speak to them in public. His language is as 
devoid of interest as the tones of his voice are of sym- 
pathy, and the souls of his hearers, instead of dilating 
under the power of his words, instead of expanding 



STYLE OF THE PULPIT. 



275 



to the vivifying influences of the life and the grace 
that should have come to them through the ministry 
of his tongue, shrivel and contract under the withering 
spell of a voice that is without music or warmth, and 
of a speech that is without animation, interest, or life. 
It is all very well to say that the people ought to be 
content with plain, solid instruction. So they ought. 
But, as a matter of fact, they are not. If we would 
benefit the people, practically and in earnest, we must 
begin by taking them as they are, and not as they 
ought to be ; whereas, as a rule, we do the very con- 
trary. We give them credit for qualities which they 
do not possess ; we commence by assuming that they 
are everything which they are not ; and, in consequence, 
we never succeed in making them what they ought to 
be, simply because we never realize what they are. It 
may be very unreasonable in our people to require us 
to render our discourses interesting, but most undoubt- 
edly they do require it, as one of the essential condi- 
tions on which they will consent to bestow their atten- 
tion upon us ; and hence, unless we know how to do 
this, we may give up all hope of being of any real ser- 
vice to them. The successful orator is a man who is 
quick to perceive this — a man who knows how to mea- 
sure the need, and to apply the remedy. Here the 
power of word-painting has full play. Here the skilful 



276 



EXTEMPORARY PREACHING. 



preacher avails himself of 'all the resources which nature 
and art place at his disposal to aid him in amusing, 
pleasing, and interesting his hearers. He constantly 
varies his forms of expression, and the words which he 
employs. He illustrates by examples, he explains by 
comparisons, he gives human interest and sympathy to 
his speech by the judicious employment of parables. 
He remembers that his Divine Lord and Master was 
never weary of teaching by parable, and of illustrating 
by example, and he aims at no higher model. He 
speaks to his people in this, the language of nature, 
and he is rewarded by the sparkling eye, the eager face, 
the upturned head, which tell of an attentive, because 
an interested, audience. He puts matters before them 
in a homely form and shape, and in a shape which they 
can recognise as something familiar and well-known. 
It is Fenelon who remarks that, since the fall, man is 
absorbed in sensible* and material things — he cannot 
follow abstract ideas, he cannot realise abstract concep- 
tions, he cannot separate, at least for long, mind and 
matter. Here is another of his evils. But we must 
take him as he is, and do our best to bring truth home 

* The word "sensible " is employed here in its scholastic 
and theological meaning. I do not know any English word 
which expresses the idea to be conveyed so closely and 
precisely. — T. J. P. 



STYLE OF THE PULPIT. 



277 



to his understanding, by clothing it in suitable terms, 
in language which he comprehends, and which pos- 
sesses an interest for him. The popular orator does 
this. He has taken the Sacred Scriptures as his guide, 
and in them he has learned how to give form and 
colour, human if you will, to his conceptions and his 
thoughts ; and there, too, he has learned how to com- 
bine simplicity with purity, gravity with warmth, and 
interest with dignity, of speech. Although his style 
may be simple and grave, it is not therefore monoto- 
nous or dull. On the contrary, it is full of light and 
colour. That colour may not be of the brightest and 
the most gaudy hue, a crimson or a royal purple, but it 
will be no less striking and real on that account — for 
the colours which nature seems to love the best are 
those more modest tints, the perfection of whose beauty 
is found, not in violence of contrast, but in due sub- 
ordination of shade to shade, and of leaf to leaf, in the 
perfect blending of the varied painted parts, to form the 
one matchless whole. To such speech as this — simple, 
gracious, picturesque, full of interest and animation, 
but never turgid, never bombastic, never scattering as 
flowers what turn out to be weeds, never seeking to 
feed hungry men with the froth of empty declamation 
and of soulless words — the people dearly love to listen, 
so long as the speaker keeps himself within the range 



278 



EXTEMPORARY PREACHING. 



of their capacity, and applies himself to their wants 
and their woes, to their griefs and their cares. 

But, above and before all things else, popular speech 
must be characterised by thorough earnestness — by ear- 
nestness of thought, by earnestness of composition, by 
earnestness of delivery ; by that earnestness which is 
at once the witness and the exponent of strong convic- 
tions and of ardent feelings. The sacred orator who is 
not in earnest is nothing. If he be not in earnest, if 
he be not all ablaze with the sacred fire, if his own soul 
do not thrill under the sacred influences which he un- 
dertakes to urge upon others, he must necessarily be 
nothing. As an accomplished writer* has said so well, 
nothing can supply, even for elocutionary purposes, the 
want of a living faith, and a personal interest in the 
solemn and glorious truth we have to declare, or the 
want of a deep and heart-piercing conviction that the 
salvation of those to whom we speak depends upon 
their believing it. 

Yes — the popular preacher must be thoroughly in 
earnest. It is one of the conditions of success which 
nature herself has laid down ; and he must be content 
to abide by the general law. If he be incapable, not 

* "Elocution: the sources and elements of its power." 
By J. H. M'llvaine. New York : Charles Scribner and 
Company. 1871. 



STYLE OF THE PULPIT. 



279 



only of appreciating, but of feeling, the true, the beau- 
tiful, and the sublime ; if he have no interest — we only- 
put a hypothetical case, for such an assertion could 
surely never be true of a minister of the Gospel of 
Christ — if he have no interest in the truth he preaches ; 
if his heart never grow hot within his breast as he pon- 
ders over the Master's words which he has been 
appointed to proclaim to a soul-starved, to a hungry 
and an eager people; if it be all the same to him 
whether he have to speak of the terrors of the Dread- 
ful Day to come, of the mercy of his God, or of the 
most simple and fundamental of the Christian truths ; 
if his soul warm no more under the influence of the 
one than when he merely explains the other ; in a word, 
if no sentiment, no matter how sublime — if no position 
of affairs, no matter how momentous — if no need, no 
matter how urgent and pressing, of his neighbour's 
panting, struggling, well-nigh shipwrecked, soul — if 
none of these, or of a thousand kindred motives which 
press from time to time upon his notice, be potent 
enough to disturb the even tenor of his way, to rouse 
him to a momentary enthusiasm and warmth — it is, no 
doubt, a matter to be deplored, but it is one for which 
we have no remedy to prescribe. It becomes a very 
plain and simple matter of fact — the conditions of suc- 
cess are not present, the foundation of anything in the 



280 



EXTEMPORARY PREACHING. 



shape of oratorical excellence is wanting^ and, so far as 
we are concerned, there would seem to be an end of 
the matter. 

But, in all sad, sober earnestness, why should such 
things be ? Considering the dignity of the office we 
discharge and the momentous interests which are at 
stake, why are we not in earnest when we speak from 
the pulpit ? Or, to state the case more truly, why can- 
not we make men perceive that we are in earnest — as, 
no doubt, the great majority of Christian preachers 
really are, although you could never gather it from 
their accent, the nature of their language, or the 
manner of their delivery. It is not enough for us to be 
ourselves persuaded of the authority we possess, of the 
power which we wield in the Divine Word. The Abbe 
Mullois, who says all things well, says most truly, that 
we must make our hearers feel that we are so endowed. 
They must feel, while listening to us, that, verily and 
indeed, we speak in God's name; that we have not 
come before them to tickle their ears with empty 
words, or to amuse them with the far-fetched specula- 
tions with which we have amused our own leisure 
hours in the silence of our study ; but that we have 
come to proclaim to them those same solemn and mo- 
mentous truths before which we ourselves, first of all, 
have humbled ourselves to the very dust: those self- 



STYLE OF THE PULPIT. 



281 



same truths, the contemplation of which has filled our 
own souls with deepest reverence and profoundest 
dread. 

See, how earnestly men of the world speak when they 
are engaged in discussing any matter in which they 
take a lively interest ! Listen to the debates in their 
parliaments, their corporations, and their social gather- 
ings. Nay, how warm we grow ourselves, from time to 
time, in discussing matters which, perhaps, are of no 
importance, which have no reference to God or our 
neighbour's soul ! We have more than enough of 
energy and animation then ; it is for the pulpit that we 
keep our coldness and reserve. 

Surely we, we preachers of the Gospel, are not less in 
earnest than the men of the world. Why, then, do we 
not speak out as they do ? We cannot deny them that 
justice. What they think, they say; and what they 
say, they say as if they believed it. They speak with 
the accent of conviction, and, speaking thus, they speak 
with a power that is irresistible. It is not enough for 
us to believe. We must make known the truth which 
we hold, we must declare the Faith which is in us. 
But it is not enough to do this in any kind of a way. 
We must proclaim it as if we believed it; we must 
proclaim it as if we gloried in it; as if the one object, 
nearest and dearest to our very heart of hearts, were to 



282 



EXTEMPORARY PREACHING. 



make it known to all the world, to bring it home to 
every soul that has been redeemed by the Saviour's pre- 
cious blood. What comparison can there ever be be- 
tween those trivial matters about which men of the 
world become so wonderfully earnest, and those tremen- 
dous interests which have been committed to our keep- 
ing ? None — surely none. When, therefore, duty calls 
us to speak of these things, we must do it as men who 
are thoroughly in earnest — we must speak with those 
accents of conviction which thrill an earnest man to his 
very finger's ends ; and if we speak thus, we shall speak 
with complete and unequivocal success. It has been 
well said of such a speaker that he astounds, stag- 
gers, and overcomes the gainsayers. And it is true. 
We have all seen it, at least now and again. We have 
all witnessed, at least sometimes in our lives, the won- 
derful results that have been produced by an earnest 
man speaking in the language and accent of conviction. 
A few words uttered in this manner often produce 
more effect than the laboured sermons of other men; 
since this is the very thing we want, the very quality 
for which, perhaps without clearly knowing what it is 
we miss in them, we pine so ardently in our preachers. 
We have no lack of eloquence, as things go ; close rea- 
soners and clever controversialists are not wanting to 
our pulpits ; but when, once in an age, a thoroughly 



STYLE OF THE PULPIT. 



283 



earnest man appears — a man not only earnest in heart 
and soul, but in word and in tongue — a man who is not 
afraid to speak out the truth that is in him — to speak 
it as he feels it, without fear of persons, without favour 
or disguise — he is the man to carry all before him, he 
is the man to speak victories, as Holy Scripture puts 
it ; and this for the simple reason that, speaking as he 
does, with the language of faith and of love, his hearers 
are as quick to submit to one in whose ministry they 
recognise the hand of the Lord, as they are slow to 
oppose, even in thought, the influence of him who 
seems to them to speak with the voice of that God 
against whom no man may hope to prevail. 

Besides, it is one of the special and characteristic 
advantages of extemporary preaching, that it is pecu- 
liarly adapted for the display of earnestness and warmth. 
Mr. M'llvaine, in his excellent Treatise on Elocution, 
a work which we cordially recommend to the notice of 
the young preacher, thus writes on this matter : — 
"When," he says, "a thought comes fresh into the 
mind, and chooses, as it were, at the moment, its own 
words, the meaning of these words is more present to 
the mind of the speaker, and their power is more felt, 
than when he recurs to them in the memory, or upon 
manuscript. In the same way, all the emotions in ex- 
tempore speaking are more fresh and genial than when 



284 



EXTEMPORARY PREACHING. 



they are reproduced in the other methods. Hence 
there is more natural warmth in the declamation, more 
earnestness in the address, greater animation in the 
manner, more of the lighting-up of the soul in the 
countenance and whole mien, more freedom and mean- 
ing in the gesture." 

But, as the same writer observes, in order to speak 
with this effect, a man must know well beforehand what 
he is going to say. And to a certain extent the speaker 
must have foreseen, not merely the structure, but the 
words, of any sentence which he designs to be specially 
emphatic. Otherwise, he will not be able — at all events 
not without great practice in extemporary speaking — 
to deliver it with full emphasis and effect. " A good 
speaker," says Mr, M'llvaine, " always foresees his em- 
phatic words. As the accomplished rider, in order to 
obtain a better view of the wall or ditch before him, 
raises himself in his stirrups, then settles himself again 
in his saddle, reins in his horse, gathers the animal's 
hind legs well under his body, and at the precise 
moment lifts his head with the bridle, applies the 
whip or spur, and launches himself over the obstacle, 
amidst the cheers of his more timid companions — 
so the accomplished speaker looks ahead for his em- 
phatic words, and, as he approaches them, draws in 
his breath, and gathers up all his forces, and, at the 



STYLE OF THE PULPIT. 



285 



precise moment, flings himself upon them, with all the 
impulse gained from the preceding restraint. A single 
word, spoken with such emphasis, will sometimes 
thrill a whole assembly." There is nothing, almost, 
which an earnest man cannot do with an audience, just 
as there is no quality, or any combination of qualities, 
which can compensate for the want of earnestness in a 
speaker. 

Yes ! whilst he labours to render his discourse clear 
and simple, full of interest, of sympathy, and of digni- 
fied attractiveness, only let the young preacher be 
thoroughly in earnest, and all will be well with him. 
Then, realizing to the full, the dignity of his position 
as minister and ambassador of Christ ; appreciating, at 
its true value, the gravity and momentous nature of the 
interests which have been committed to his keeping : 
he will rise, heart and soul, with every instinct and 
with every impulse, to the great work which it has 
pleased the Master to give him to do. Then, like 
another Paul, will he make known the message of the 
Lord, not in the persuasive words of human wisdom, 
but in the showing of the spirit and power. Then, 
labouring with much prayer and with many tears, it 
will matter but little to him what judgment may be 
passed upon him by men, provided he be found faithful 
by Him who is to bring to light the hidden things of 



286 



EXTEMPORARY PREACHING. 



darkness, who is to make manifest the counsels of the 
heart. Then, becoming all things to all men, that thus 
he may win all to Christ, in the fulness of his love, in 
the ardour of his zeal for the salvation of his brethren, 
he will be ready to become anathema for the souls for 
which his Master died. Then, going forth at the sound 
of the Master's voice, will he scatter the good seed that 
is to bring forth its fruit in due season, a fruit that shall 
surely remain long after he himself shall have been 
laid to his rest. Then, strong and invincible in the 
power of God's word, shall his sound go forth into all 
the earth, and his words into the ends of the whole 
world : then, shall his feet be beautiful upon the moun- 
tains, beautiful as the feet of them that preach the 
gospel of peace, of them that bring glad tidings of good 
things. Then, verily and indeed, shall his mission 
amongst men be crowned with honour, for it shall 
be a mission of mercy, of benediction, and of love. 
Then, shall all men, knowing him for a man of God, 
and a minister of Christ, receive the teaching of his lips 
with humble and with docile hearts, Then, shall that 
teaching be blessed a hundred, yea, a hundred times a 
hundred fold. And, then, when the time shall have 
come, and the faithful and prudent servant shall have 
been called to his reward : through all the priceless 
years of his eternity shall he shine like a star in the 



STYLE OF THE PULPIT. 



287 



firmament of God, because, during the days of his min- 
istry here below, he laboured with all his heart and 
soul, to the best of the ability which God had given 
him, to guide many faltering feet in the way of salva- 
tion, to give light to many that sat in darkness, 
hearing to many that were deaf, and speech to many 
that were dumb ; because, in one word, he fed many a 
hungry and thirsty soul with the blessed food of Justice, 
of Sanctity, and of Truth : Qui ad justitiam erudiunt 
multos, quasi stellce in perpetuas ceternitates, fulge- 
bunt: Fiat, Fiat. 



THE END. 



\ 



BY THE SAME AUTHOR. 



Now Ready, Fine Toned Paper, Neatly Bound in Cloth, 
Price 6s. 

THE PASTOR AND HIS PEOPLE ; 

OR, 



CONTENTS. 



PART I. — HOLIDAY PREACHING. 

CHAPTER I. 

Modern Pulpit Eloquence — Nature and utility op the Set 
Sermon — The Circumstances in which it should be em- 
ployed. 

CHAPTER II. 

The Great Christian Truths prom a general point op view — 
Dogmatic, Controversial, and Moral Discourses — 

Section I. — Dogmatic Discourses — their utility and necessity. 

Section IL —General Rules to be observed iu Dogmatic Discourses — 
Controversial Sermons — Their Danger — Two-fold Method of 
Preaching them — Advantages of the Indirect Method, etc. 

Section III. — The Christian Truths from a moral point of view — 
General Rules by which Discourses of this kind are to be governed. 



CHAPTER III. 



Method of Preaching on the Attributes and Divine Per- 
fections of God — Examples. 



Works by the Same Author. 



CHAPTER. IV. 

Discourses on the Benefits of God — Two principal Methods 
of arranging them. 



CHAPTER V. 
The Four Last Things. 

Section I. — G-eneral Principles to be kept in mind when treating 

these great subjects. 
Section II. — Method of Preaching on the necessity of Salvation — 

Points to be contained, explicitly or implicitly, in every good 

Discourse on this subject. 
Section III. — Death — Errors to be avoided and Methods which may 

be followed in treating this subject. 
Section IV. — Judgment — Practical Suggestions, and Methods of 

Preaching on the General or Particular Judgment. 
Section V. — Hell — Special difficulty of treating this matter well — 

The Sceptic and the Tepid Christian — Three principal errors 

into which young Preachers are apt to fall — Practical divisions 

of the subject. 

Section VI. — Heaven — Principal Methods of dividing the subject. 

CHAPTER VI. 
The Mysteries of our Lord and His Blessed Mother. 
Section I. — Obligation of entering into the spirit of the Church in 
celebrating the Great Festivals of the Christian Year — What 
is meant by the Mysteries, and the means of securing our end. 
Section II. — The Method of Instructing our Hearers thoroughly in 
any Mystery. 

Section III. — How to Cause our Hearers to render due honour to 
any Mystery. 

Section IV.— How to Cause our Hearers to participate in the graces 
of a Mystery. 

Section V. — Various Methods of presenting the Mysteries — Dog- 
matic, Moral, and Mixed Form — Bourdaloue. 



CHAPTER VII. 

The Panegyrics of the Saints and of the Blessed 
Virgin Mary. 

Section I. — Antiquity and Special Utility of this class of subjects. 
Section II. — The sources whence to draw the materials for the 

Panegyric of a Saint. 
Section III. — Different Methods of presenting the Panegyric — The 

Moral and Historical Forms. 
Section IV. — Comparison between the Two Forms of presenting a 

Panegyric. 

Section V.— Rules common to every kind of Panegyric. 



Works by the Same Author. 



PART II. — FAMILIAR INSTRUCTION. 

CHAPTER I. 

Familiar Instruction — Its universal Application, Nature, 
and Obligation, as defined by the Council of Trent- 
Remarks of the Bishop of Orleans— Special Qualities 
of Familiar Instruction, and its leading subjects. 

CHAPTER II. 
The Homily. 

Section I. — The Antiquity, Nature, and Great Utility of this form 
of Discourse. 

Section II. — First Method of composing the Homily.— The 
Nature of this Method, and the principal objection which is 
urged against it. 

Section III.— Second Method. — Nature of this Method — Its ad- 
vantages over the First. 

Section IV. — Third Method. — Peculiar Nature and Excellency of 
this Method — Plan of Massillon's Homily on the Raising of 
Lazarus — Practical suggestions to be kept in view when pre- 
paring a Homily according to this Method. 

CHAPTER III. 
A Course of Religious Instruction. 

Section I. — What is meant by a Course of Instruction — its utility 
and necessity — Catechism of the Council of Trent— Matter of 
such a Course — Special characteristics of every good instruc- 
tion. 

CHAPTER IV. 

A Course of Instructions on the Commandments— The Virtues 
and the Vices. 

Section I. — General Principles to be kept in view. 
Section II. — Method of explaining any Virtue or Vice. 
Section III.— Motives for embracing Virtue or avoiding Vice. 
Section IV. — Means of acquiring Virtue, or correcting Vice. 
Section V. — Method of arranging an Instruction on any Virtue or 
Vice. 

CHAPTER V. 

A Course of Instructions on the Sacraments. 

Section I. — General Idea of the Nature of this Course. 
Section II. — The Nature and Excellence of the Sacraments. 
Section III.— Dispositions required in the worthy Recipient of the 
Sacraments. 

Section IV.— Obligations which the Sacraments impose upon those 
who receive them. 



Works by the Same Author. 



CHAPTER VI. 

A Couese oe Instructions on Prayer. 

Section I. — General Principles of such a Course. 

Section II. — Method of Preparing and Arranging an Instruction on 

Prayer — Motives of Prayer. 
Section III. — The things to be demanded in Prayer. 
Section IV. — The conditions or qualities of acceptable Prayer. 

CHAPTER VII. 
Catechetical Instetjction. 

Section I. — The strict obligation of Catechetical Instruction, as 
shown by the teaching of the Council of Trent, of Benedict 
XIV. , and the most eminent theologians — Natural obligation 
from the office of Pastor — Opinions of St. Francis Xavier and 
St. Francis de Sales. 

Section II. — True Idea of Catechetical Instruction — Its definition 
by the Bishop of Orleans — Its universal applicability. 

Section III. — The Catechism of Young Children — Its great impor- 
tance and principal qualities. 

Section IV. — Catechism of First Communion — Peculiar Nature of 
this class — Special Instructions and preparation — Retreat be- 
fore, and Exercises after, First Communion — Means of perse- 
verance. 

Section V. — The Catechism of Perseverance — Great importance of 

this class — Means of insuring its success — Sunday-Schools, 

Confraternities, etc., etc. 
Section VI.— Instruction of Ignorant Adults — Great difficulty of 

this matter — Practical means — Advice of Benedict XIV. — 

The Leading Qualifications of a successful Catechist : Learning, 

Piety, Zeal, and Prudence. 
Section VII. — Recapitulation of matter to be taught at Catechism — 

Method of preparing the Instruction— Its principal qualities — 

Authorities to be consulted. 



PART III— DELIVERY. 

CHAPTER I. 

True idea of Deliveey— Falsity of the Principles laid down 
by a Modern Writer — Necessity and Essential Proper- 
ties oe a Good Delivery. 



Works by the Same Author. 



CHAPTER II. 
The Voice. 

Section I. — The obligation of making himself heard imperative upon 
every one who is obliged to speak in public — Means of doing 
so — Articulation — Pitch — Rhetorical Pauses. 

Section II. — The obligation of speaking, not merely so as to be heard, 
but with full effect and Expression — The Elocution of the Pas- 
sions — Expression and Modulation — The manner in which due 
Expression is to be given to the various parts of a Discourse. 

CHAPTER III. 

Gestcjre. 

Section I. — True idea of Gesture, and the place which it naturally 

holds in animated delivery — The Action of the Pulpit. 
Section II. — Leading Qualities of the Action of the Pulpit. 



OPINIONS OF THE PRESS. 

" Amongst the books from which preachers will reap benefit, and 
cull hints, this volume will occupy a noteworthy place." — Church 
Times. 

" This work can scarcely be too highly recommended." — Tablet. 

" A complete series of very valuable hints as to the various heads 
of sermons, and methods of preaching." — Month. 

"We do not know that we could recommeud a more admirable 
corrective of faults .... The advice giveu is most sound and 
practical." — Church News. 

" This work, which would be valuable under any circumstances, is 
especially valuable and opportune at the present time." — Weekly 
Register. 

" Simple, clear, and practical . . . abounds with the most 
valuable hints regarding the familiar instruction of the people." — 
Catholic World. 

* ' Abounds in sound common sense, embodied in plain and intelli- 
gible language. Deals with eminently practical questions in an 
eminently practical manner. The style, always easy and graceful, 
occasionally warms into positive eloquence." — Freeman's Journal. 



BY THE SAME AUTHOR. 



Now Ready, Third Edition, care/idly Revised, 6s., cloth, 

SACRED ELOQUENCE; 

OR, 

THE THEORY AND PRACTICE OF PREACHING. 



Letter of His Eminence the Cardinal Archbishop of Dublin. 

" My Dear Mr. Potter, — I wish to thank you for the copy 
of your excellent work which you have been so kind as to send me. 

"It seems to me you have succeeded in treating the subject of 
Sacred Eloquence in a manner worthy of its importance. This 
was to be expected from the wise rule which you laid down for 
your guidance— not to depart in anything from the principles 
which the Fathers have held concerning the true method of 
Gospel preaching. In addition to this, the judicious arrange- 
ment you have made of the matter, the accuracy with which you 
treat of practical details, too often overlooked in works of this 
kind, and the spirit of piety which pervades the whole, will, I am 
confident, render your book of signal service to all who are pre- 
paring for, or engaged in, the preaching of the Word of God. 

" Wishing you every blessing, I remain, my dear Mr. Potter, 
your obedient servant, 

>J< "Paul Cardinal Cullen." 



Letter of His Grace the Archbishop of Westminster. 

"Rev. and Dear Sir, — I beg to thank you for your excellent 
book on Sacred Eloquence, which, I hope, will be of much use to 
our students for the Priesthood. No part of it will be more useful 
than that in which you repress the ambition of being eloquent. 
It has been well said that ' Men forget that eloquence resides 
essentially in the thought, and that no language will render elo- 
quent that which is not so in the simplest words which will convey 
the meaning.' St. Charles enjoins a ' Simplex et virilis oratio,' 
which seems to me to be the true source of power over the reason 
and hearts of men. 

" I trust your labours will promote this, and that every blessing 
will be with you. 

" Believe me, Rev. and dear Sir, your faithful servant, 

>J« "Henry Edward, 

"Archbishop of Westminster." 



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